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GREENFIELD, CT., 












MAY 18th, 1876 



PREPARED FOR PUBLICATION 



By rev. henry B. SMITH 



SOUTHPORT, CONNECTICUT. 
1876. 



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ELEBRATION ON LrEENFIELD fflLL. 



Address of Welcome 



— BT- 



DEACON N. B. HILL, 

EEPLT BY 

REV. GEORGE W. BANKS. 



Historical Discourse 

DELiyERED AT THE 

One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the 
Formation of Greenfield Church, 

MAY 18, 187G, 
BY 

Rev. H. b. Smith, 

Pastor of the Church. 



Commemorative Address 

OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF THE 

Rev. Dr. Timothy Dwight, 

Fourth Pastor of the Church anb Presibext of Ya.e Co.. bob, 

—BY— 

REV. PROF. TIMOTHY DWIGHT, D. D. 



Chroxicle Print: 

SOUTHPORT, CONNECTICUT. 

1876. 






fe't 



Rev. H. B. Smith, 






-t^ €l^yl€/ ^^^ ^€l/i4^'l£i^ /^d/^X-t^'i^-a/ </-idC-(M4.'tde^ €1^3^^ 



NATHANIEL B. HILL, 
JOSEPH DONALDSON, 
W. 0. MURWiN, 
JOHN BURR, 
JOHN MURWIN, 
JOSEPH BETTS. 



Messrs. Deacon N. B. Hill, Deacon Joseph Donaldson, W. O. Mur- 
wiN, John Burr, John Murwin and Joseph Betts, 

^Aau-aA /ue/t€i'te^ -a-i^tc/ -a. A-i-edd^l-e. ■ii/ji€id'^<i i-tzA -t^z^iU/i ■ 

(^y / / ' 

H. B. SMITH. 



THE OELEBEATIOIS^ 

OF THE 

OHE Ju^dred and Fiftieth ]5NNIversai[y 



GREENFIELD CHURCH. 
May 18th, 1876. 



The people, uotwithstanding the rain, assembled from far 
and near in large numbers to celebrate the one hundred and 
fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the Congregational 
Church on Greenfield Hill. Natives of the place, descendants 
of former residents, citizens of adjoining towns, and from the 
cities of iSTew York, New Haven, Bridgeport and Norwalk, 
ministers, lawyers, physicians and teachers flUed the church to 
its utmost limits. The benevolent hands of the ladies of the 
parish had adorned the chui'ch and the pulpit with wreaths 
and flowers, which were much admired. 

On account of the sickness of Hon. Abram Wakeman, of New 
York City, Judge Thomas Bradford D wight, of Philadelphia, 
was called to take the chair and act as president of the day. 
After a few pleasant remarks from Judge Dwight, he called 
upon the choir to sing a hymn in the old tune of " Majesty." 
Then the congregation were led in an appropriate prayer by 
the Eev. Marcus Burr, of Rockville Centre, Long Island, N. Y., 
at the conclusion of which the choir, in an admirable manner, 
sang another old tune to the words, " Before Jehovah's awful 
throne." Next a cordial welcome was given to all the invited 
guests by Deacon N. B. Hill, which was gracefully responded 
to by the Rev. George W. Banks, of Guilford, Conn. Then the 
choir sang another hymn to the tune of " Northfield." The 
historical discourse herewith published, giving an account 
of the settlement of the town of Fairfield, and the parish 



6 

of Greeufield, with the history of the church, was theu de- 
livered by the pastor. The morning services were conchided by 
the singing of *'Anld Lang Syne." Then the numerous guests, 
together with the whole congregation, were invited to a bounti- 
ful collation, provided by the ladies of Greenfield, in the base- 
ment of the church. 

Having done justice to this repast, the people reassembled 
in the sanctuary, where the afternoon services were commenced 
with the singing of an anthem by the choir, after which Prof. 
Dwight, of Yale College, gave a most discriminating and ad- 
mirable address concerning the life and character of President 
Dwight, the fourth pastor of Greenfield Church. Then fol- 
lowed brief addresses from the neighbgring pastors and others. 
Eloquent responses were given to the following sentiments : 

"Our Mother, the Mother of Churches," by Eev. Dr. E. E. 
Eankin, of Fairfield. 

" Our Elder Sister," by Eev. G. J. Eelyea, of Green's Farms. 

" Our Younger Sister," by Eev. G. E. Hill, of Southport. 

" Our Youngest Sister," by Eev. H. W. Pope, of Black Eock. 

" Our Oldest Daughter," by Eev. Mr. Dudley, of Easton. 

To the sentiment of " Greenfield Hill," the Eev. E. G. Hib- 
barb, a former pastor, responded. Professor Thomas A. 
Thatcher, LL. D., presented the congratulations of Yale Col- 
lege, and recommended the refounding of the old academy on a 
sure basis under the honored name of Dwight Academy. Eev. 
Dr. Eogers, of New York City, being called upon, gracefully 
presented the salutations of the oldest church on Manhattan 
Island, the original church of " New Amsterdam," at the Bat- 
tery. After the singing of the " Easter Anthem " by the choir, 
and the doxology, the president of the day made a few parting- 
remarks, and the public services were brought to a close with 
the benediction by the pastor. As if to assure us that all is 
well, the sun came out at the close of the meeting and glad- 
dened the hearts of all as they returned to their several homes, 
cheered with the sweet remembrance of a most enjoyable 
anniversary. 



ADDRESS OF ^A^ELCOME. 
By Deacon N. B. HILL. 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : 

In behalf of the people of Greenfield, I welcome you to 
Greenfield HiU, to unite with us in celebrating upon this cen- 
tennial year the 150th birthday of this chiu'ch. We make no 
apology for this celebration, for it has ever been the custom, 
among the nations of both ancient and modern times, to 
commemorate by suitable manifestations of public gratitude 
events of great importance. The formation of a church 
here upon this hill was an event of great importance. 
Though small in its beginnings it has been great in its 
results, and we look forward to still greater results in the 
future. Yes, our forefathers did a great work here one 
hundred and fifty years ago, and we have assembled upon 
this occasion to view the work of their hands, to go about this 
bur Zion, "to tell her towers, mark well her bulwarks, that 
we may tell it to the generations following." We would call 
our thoughts from the busy present and the ever glorious 
prospective future and fix them upon the past, reflecting upon 
all the way which the Lord our God has led us on. To you 
who once lived here and have wandered away, we welcome you 
back to the old home to-day; and to you whose fathers or 
mothers, or grandfathers and grandmothers once lived here, 
we welcome you back to the home of your fathers. May this 
day be such an inspiration to you all, that when you shall have 
had enough of wandering up and down in the earth, or when 
you shall have acquired enough of its riches, its honors and 
its glory, you will bring those riches, honor and glory back to 
this old Greenfield Hill, and here in the home of your fathers 
enjoy that happiness and find that rest which you will prob- 
ably find nowhere else. Again, ladies and gentlemen, one and 
all, I bid you welcome, thrice welcome. 



RESPONSE TO THE ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 

By Eev. G. W. BA^KS, of Guilfoed, Ct. 



Mr. Chairman and Friends : 

I have been asked by the Committee of Arrangements to 
respond in a few words to tlie very kind and generons address 
of welcome whicli lias just been made by Deacon Hill; to re- 
spond on behalf of the natives and former residents of this 
parish, who have found homes in other places, but who have 
come back to-day to mingle with you in the festivities of this 
anniversary. 

I scarcely think, however, that I am the proper person for 
this service; so frequent have been my visits during the seven- 
teen years since I left home, that I feel more like one of the 
peoi)le here, and can hardly express the feelings of those who 
have been for many years absent, and perhaps this day have 
returned for the first time. 

However, I think I can say, with those for whom I speak, 
that we are not ashamed of our native place. We have wan- 
dered oft' into other towns and distant parts of the State, into 
other States and distant x)arts of the Union, and wherever we 
have met with strangers, who have asked where we came from, 
and have answered them, almost universally, if they were 
people of intelligence, they have replied, " Oh ! yes ; Greenfield 
Hill ! that was where Dr. Dwight went from to the presidency 
of Yale College ! Was it not ?" 

Such character and fame has that good and great man given 
to this place ! We are proud of the natural attractions of this 
place, and the unsurpassed scenery from this beautiful hill. 
We are proud of the honorable history of this ancient church, 
and as we shall to-day, led by its pastor, refresh our minds 
with the facts of that history, and as we shall have our attention 
called by my honored instructor at old Yale to the character 
of Dr. Dwight, and the influence he exerted upon his times, we 
shall go away from this feast of rich things with a higher esti- 
mate than ever before of the place that gave us birth. No, sir, 
we are not ashamed of our native place. 



9 

Perhaps it is a little immodest for us to say, and yet you will 
pardon us for saying it, that we have mainly tried to live and 
act so that the old parish should not be ashamed of us. We 
have carried out into the various communities where our lot in 
life has been cast, and into the various employments and profes- 
sions in which we are engaged, the principles and truths that 
we have learned in this House of God, or in others that stood 
upon this site, and these same principles and truths we are try- 
ing to live up to, and to inculcate in other places ; to put upon 
other minds the same impress that here was put upon ours. I 
presume it is safe to say, sir, that the large majority of those of 
us who have thus gone out, and who are still living, received 
our training and instruction in these principles from one 
honored teacher (Eev. Thomas B. Stirrgis). Some of us can say, 
what verj^ few can say in these days of frequent ministerial 
changes, that we never had but one pastor. And I can assure 
you, sir, that to such, it is by no means the smallest part 
of the pleasure of this joyous occasion, that we are j^rivileged 
as we come back to welcome that beloved pastor to his native 
land and to this field of his life's labors ; to see his face once 
more, to take his hand, and, I trust, before the day is over, to 
hear, as of old, his familiar voice in this place. We count it no 
small privilege that by him we learned how to think, and think 
consecutively, and more than that, to think with reference to 
our relations to God and to our fellow men, that by his hand 
our feet were guided into wisdom's ways. And we wish to 
assure him that the seed which for more than a quarter of a 
century (more than one sixth j)art of the entire history of this 
church) he so faithfully sowed broadcast over this field, is yet 
bringing forth fruit, not only here but in other and distant 
communities. 

But, sir, the joy of our coming back is tinged with sadness, 
as we miss from the places that so long knew them, men who 
were honored and exerted a wide influence for good here — such 
men as Judge Hill, Gov. Tomlinson, Oapt. Baldwin, Doctor 
Blakeman, and many others who might be mentioned. To 
some, probably, who have come back and who used to know 
every person in the parish, there are but verj^ few familiar 
faces in this audience; and we are all reminded of the old yet 
ever forcible words of Scripture, "One generation passeth away 
and another cometh." 



10 

Xevertlieless, the fact that calls us together to-day is a glo- 
rious one, viz., that the Church abideth. Like some great train- 
ing school, the generations one after another pass through it 
into the beyond. For one hundred and fifty years it has held 
its place on this beautiful hill, like some perennial fountain^ 
sending forth streams that make glad the city of our God. 

And we believe that for generations yet unborn it shall be 
what it has been in the past ; that till time shall end the sound 
of the church going bell shall be heard sweetly echoing over 
these hills and valleys — 

" And here thy name, God of Love, 
Our children's children shall adore, 
'Till these eternal hills remove 
And spring adorns the earth no more." 

Most heartily, therefore, Mr. Moderator, do we accept the 
generous welcome that has been extended to us. We shall en- 
joy the day and its services, and long remember them. This 
will be a red letter day in our histories, and when at its close 
we go down from this " Hill of Zion " to our homes and our 
work again, we will go with the words of the Psalmist in our 
hearts — " Beace be within thy walls, O ! Jerusalem, and pros- 
perity within thy palaces." " For our brethren and companions^ 
sake, we will say peace be within thee." 



THE HISTORICAL SERMON. 
By eev. heney b. s:viith. 



REJIEIVrBEK THE DAYS OF OLD, CONSIDER THE YEARS OF 
MANY GENERATIONS : ASK THY FATHER AND HE WILL SHOW 
THEE, THY ELDERS AND THEY WILL TELL THEE. — DeuteronOJliy 

xxxii, 7. 

By this divinely inspired precept we are commanded to keep 
in mind the history of the past, and call to remembrance the 
days of our forefathers. In so doing we shall consider the years 
of many generations. Since the first settlement of this old town 
of Fairfield eight or ten generations of men have lived, per- 
formed their several parts and passed onward. Also, six or 
seven generations have inhabited the hills and vales of the par- 
ish of Greenfield since the organization of the church, all of 
whom, excepting the present, have been gathered to their fath- 
ers. As we review their history, we are reminded that one 
generation goeth and another cometh in rapid succession. Does 
not filial obligation require us to recall their noble deeds and to 
keep them in remembrance ? If the voice of God did not call 
us to the performance of this duty, filial affection should con- 
strain us to perform the obligation we owe to a pious and noble 
ancestry. IsTever should the honorable names of Banks, Burr, 
Bradley, Hill, Hull, Wakeman, Sherwood, Baldwin, Nichols, 
Meeker, Jennings, Morehouse, Betts, Ogden, Wheeler, Wilson, 
Perry and Bulckley be allowed to pass into oblivion. The fami- 
lies bearing these names have chieflj" composed the inhabitants 
of North- West Parish from the origin of its settlement until 
now. In all the towns and parishes of my acquaintance, I know 
not any where so many have lived and died in the place of 
their nativity from generation to generation. 

The inhabitants have married and intermarried to such an 
extent that each family bears some relationship to every otlier 
in the community. But as the blood has been good, and the 
origin noble, well may it be perpetuated. A distinguished au- 
thority, Dr. Dwight, declares : '• That the people of Connecticut 



12 

are descended from ancestors distinguished for their wisdom 
and virtue, and owe, under God, to this fact, the prominent 
features of their character and the great mass of their blessings ; 
and no New Engiander can read the liistorj' of his town or 
State without rejoicing that God has caused him to spring from 
the loins of such ancestors." As the first settlers of North- West 
Parish belonged for more than eighty years to the old j)arish of 
Fairfield, we shall first allude to the history of the town of Fair- 
field, before considering the history of the society and church of 
Greenfield. For we claim partnership in all the honors, prosperi- 
ties and adversities through which Fairfield has passed in its re- 
markable history. Thankful I am that so many descendants are 
present to-day from far and near, to rekindle their affection for 
their ancestral homes and to pay homage to their pious, patri- 
otic and noble progenitors. I am sorry, however, that the early 
records of Fairfield were destroyed by fire in the American 
Eevolution, and that the records of Greenfield Church and So- 
ciety are so imperfect and incomplete. But 1 have done what 
I could with the imperfect materials at my command, and with 
the knowledge within my reach.* 

In common with all the old towns of New England, the first 
settlement of the town of Fairfield was about 237 years ago, 
nineteen years after the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers on 
Plymouth Eock. In this early period the English colonists were 
greatly excited and disturbed by a warlike and roving tribe of 
Indians — the Pequots — who roamed about to kill and destroy. 
The colonists on the Connecticut Eiver suffered such a loss 
of life and property that they were constrained, for the sake of 
protection, to war against them. On the 13th of July, 1637, a 
decisive battle was fought, the English colonists being victo- 
rious. A portion of the Pequots, pursued by Captain John 
Mason and his soldiers, fled west of the Connecticut Eiver by 
a circuitous route to Sasco Swamp, near Southport, where they 
w^ere secreted by a small tribe of Indians called Unquowas. 
Here the small army under Captain Mason exterminated or 
scattered these savages on that memorable day which delivered 
the colonists of Western Massachusetts and Connecticut from 
fear of evil. Hon. Eoger Ludlow, who accompanied Captain 
Mason with the troops in pursuit of the Pequots to Sasco 
Swamp, was so much pleased with the beauty and fertility of 
the land that he projected the scheme of a settlement. Accord- 

* Note A — Appendix. 



13 

ingly, tlie followiug year, 163vS, he, with some eight or ten other 
families, removed from Windsor, Conn., to TJnquowa, now 
called Fairfield. 

Mr. Ludlow was Deputy Governor of Connecticut for several 
years, and the principal planter. Very soon his small colony 
was joined by other families from Concord and Watertown, 
Mass., and soon became numerous enough to form themselves 
into a distinct township. Then this whole section of country 
was, to a great extent a wilderness, where dwelt wild beasts 
and ro^dng savages. Much praise is due to Mr. Ludlow for the 
part he took in the settlement of Connecticut and of the town 
of Fairfield, since he was the most distinguished lawyer of the 
colonies, and assisted in the construction of the first written 
constitution originated in the new world — one which "was the 
type of all that came after, even of the Republic itself. 

He made the first purchase of the laud from the Indians, in- 
cluded in the town of Fairfield, which originally embraced all 
the territory lying between Stratford and Norwalk, and 
extending six miles back from Long Island Sound. At a 
later period the town purchased of the Indians all the laud 
six miles farther north, including most of the territory now 
embraced in Fairfield, Easton, Weston, part of Westport, 
and Bridgeport. The whole six miles, including all the 
northern section of the old town of Fairfield, as far north 
as Eeading Centre, was purchased of the Indians for thirty 
pounds. Then the town v^oted to distribute nearly all the 
common unoccui^ied land to the individual citizens. This 
distribution of the land made the long lots, as they were called, 
and they were deeded to the settlers in width according to each 
one's assessment in the list of estates, in length, as far as they 
chose up into the wilderness. Some of the division lines of 
these long lots at length became roads on which the people 
travelled, and extended up into the uninhabited country as far 
as Eeading Centre. Some of these roads have been used as 
highways from the laying out of these lots till now. These roads, 
corresponding to the long lots, ran due north, without any regard 
to the hills or valleys. It is also evident from the town records 
that these lots extending up into the wilderness were used as 
pasture lands by the early settlers. "At a meeting of the propri- 
etors, held January 25th, 1726, it was voted by the major part 
of said proprietors that there should be a flock of sheep kept 



14 

in Greenfield Parish for the summer ensuing, and Charles Hill, 
Moses Diamond, Jr., and Benjamin Banks were appointed 
sheep masters to take care of the sheep. Voted also that the 
place to let the sheep should be at the house where the said 
parish meet on tlie Sabbath days, and the time to let the said 
sheep should be Monday and Friday nights." Such sheep mas- 
ters to take care of the flocks were evidently necessary then to 
protect the sheep from the ravenous wild beasts, the wolves 
and bears which roamed over these hills and vales. 

Then the town offered rewards for killing wild beasts. For 
every wolf killed the Selectmen paid 40 shOlings ; for every old 
bear 50 shillings ; for every cub or young bear 20 shillings. It 
was further ordered, that whoever killed a wolf in the town, if 
they expected to be paid for it, must bring the wolf's head to 
the Town Treasurer, who should keep an account thereof, l^o 
wonder, therefore, that the early inhabitants of Fairfield had 
stockade forts built to protect their families from the ravages of 
the wild beasts and the more savage Indians. In those times 
the town kept watch by night and ward by day. 

Among the first settlers of Fairfield and North- West Parish 
was John Banks, a distinguished lawyer and an extensive land 
holder. He was afterwards chosen representative to the Gene- 
ral Court of Connecticut, and appointed to important public 
offices on the part of the State ; a man of excellent character 
and public spirit, who had the confidence of the Legislature in 
a remarkable degree. From him all the Banks of this town are 
supposed to have descended, and his descendants have become 
almost as numerous and distinguished as were the descendants 
of Jacob in the land of Canaan ; and may their virtues never 
be less. Of equal celebrity and public spirit was Jehu Burr, 
one of the pioneers of the North- West Parish. In his day he was 
much employed in public affairs, on account of his ability and 
character. He was father of Daniel Burr and grandfather of 
Eev. Aaron Burr, who became president of Princeton College, 
New Jersey, and one of the most distinguished preachers of the 
gospel during the colonial period. From Jehu Burr nearly 
all the Burrs in this section of country have descended, and 
most of them have been worthy of their pious and noble ances- 
try. Another of the early and distinguished citizens of the 
town of Fairfield was Francis Bradley, who had eight sons and 
one daughter, most of whom settled in the township. His son» 



15 

John Bradley, had nine sons and three daughters, who settled 
in the North- West Parish, afterwards called Greeniield ; from 
whom have descended some of the most worthy and distin- 
guished citizens of the town of Fairfield and of the common- 
wealth of Connecticut. If time would allow, I should love to 
speak of other pioneers of Fairfield, such as Thomas Hill, Sam- 
uel Bradley, and many of like celebrity, who, in their day and 
generation, honored the name and place that gave them birth. 

Previous to the American Eevolution, Fairfield Town was 
one of the most wealthy and populous towns in the Connecticut 
Colony, having, in the year 1756, 4,455 inhabitants. On this 
account, as well as on account of the superior character of its 
I)eople, Fairfield exerted a controlling political influence in the 
State and nation. Since the present is the centennial year of 
our existence as a Eepublic, I must allude to the prominent 
part taken by your forefathers in securing our American inde- 
pendence and our national existence. 

Though Connecticut was one of the great producing States 
during the American Eevolution, both of men and money to 
carry on the war, yet she has never had her full merit recog- 
nized in any historical work published, and the same is true of 
the town of Fairfield, which did more and suffered more, accord- 
ing to her population, than any town in New England. 

While Generals Warren and Putnam have become world re- 
nowned for their patriotism and heroism, who has ever heard of 
Captain Ebenezer Banks, who, like General Putnam, left his 
plough in the field when he heard of the battle of Lexington ? 
Then learning that a i)ublic meeting would be held that after- 
noon on Greenfield Hill, he hastened to the place of concourse. 
By his exertion, with the aid of others, a company was raised 
in Greenfield and vicinity and soon started to go the place of 
conflict. Here is the sword he carried then and through the 
war, and has uiDon its hilt inscribed his name, Captain Ebenezer 
Banks, 1760, showing that he owned and carried this sword 
sixteen years before the declaration of American Independence. 
But never have the deeds and sacrifices of that patriotic band 
of soldiers, nor those of General Silliman of Fairfield, or of 
Major Chapman of Green's Farms and their troops, been ade- 
quately portrayed on the page of history, though they per- 
formed an important part in securing the freedom and indepen- 
dence of the United States. During the American Eevolution 



16 

Fairfield was the most pati'iotic township in Southern Connec- 
ticut, and furnished about the same amount of men and means 
to carry on the war as New Haven. Hear this testimony to 
their i)atriotism : 

" Boston, Nov. 24, 1774. 
Gentlemen — The testimony which the patriotic inhabitants 
of the Town of Fairfield have given of their attachment to the 
common and glorious cause of liberty, by their liberal donation 
of 750 bushels of grain by Captain Thorj), has afforded much 
comfort as well as seasonable relief to their friends in Boston, 
who are now suifering under the cruel rod of ministerial tyranny 
and oppression. Your obliged friend and humble servant, 

Henry Hill. 
To Jonathan Sturges and others. 

By order of the Com. of Donations." 

Here is a curious manuscript, more than one hundred years 
old, in which are written the names of those men of Fairfield 
who were summoned, twelve persons each night, to guard the 
town and act as watchmen from May 24th, 1776, to Feb. 18th, 
1777.* On the last page of this pamphlet is this declaration : 

"The foregoing persons were legally warned by a lawful 
warrant from lawful authority. 

Test, Daniel Sherwood, 
Constable of Fairfield.^^ 

Also the following charge was given to the constable : 

" Fairfield, 9th of June, 1777. 
You are desired to deduct from persons noted in this book, 
who served when warned at the rate of three shillings per night, 
and to be particularly careful that none be paid who did not 
serve. Also keep a particular account of every i^erson who 
neglected going on guard when warned. 
By order of the Selectmen. 

Test, Thaddeus Burr, 

Selectman.^'' 

The patriotic zeal of the men of this town soon became known 
to the British soldiers, which led them to destroy the village of 
Fairfield by fire in that memorable month of July, 1779. At that 
time the English soldiers burned in Fairfield and Green Farms 
3 churches, 100 dwelling houses, 77 barns, 19 stores and as many 
other workshops, and nearly all the buildings in the old town 
of Fairfield. Greenfield Hill being three miles away, escaped 

* Note B — Appendix. 



17 

the terrible and general couflagTation. But of the fear the peo- 
])le suffered, and of the sacrifices they made, in common with 
tlieii' brethren in other parts of the township, no tongue can 
tell. Still we may now rejoice in their patriotism and suffering, 
which secured to our State and nation all our social, civil and 
Christian institutions. 

Returning from this digression I must hasten to speak of 
affairs pertaining more i)articularly to the North -West Parish, 
as it was first called. This parish came into being under diffi- 
culties, on account of the unwillingness of the Fairfield parish 
to part with any of its supports. The old society could not 
bear the thought of losing so many worthy members, and so 
large a proportion of their wealth and strength. As the people 
in this part of the town had made the Sabbath day's long jour- 
ney for generations, the inhabitants of Fairfield supposed that 
they could travel the same road for many years longer. Con- 
sequently, they strongly opposed their petition to the General 
Court of Connecticut for separate church i^rivileges. Still the 
people of this section of the town had their hearts set upon it, 
as the following petition will show : 

" To THE Honorable General Assembly sitting at Hart- 
ford the second Thursday of May, 1725. The humble prayer of 
the inhabitants of Fairfield North Village humbly sheweth, 
that there are about fifty-five families living north of Fairfield, 
at a considerable distance from the town, some five or six miles, 
and the nearest of them about two miles and a half or more, 
whose lists amount to £4,000, which inhabitants labor under 
great difficulties on account of their enjoyment of some of the 
precious means of grace, especially the i)roclaiuiing of the word 
of life, in the ordinary way and means God uses in the conver- 
sion and bringing home poor, lost and undone sinners. Not 
only ourselves are frequently obliged to be absent from di\ine 
worship, but oiu- poor children are under a kind of necessity of 
perishing for lack of \dsion, both which are very troublesome to 
those who are inquiring what they shall do to be saved, and 
that are hungering and thirsting after Christ and salvation and 
righteousness in and through him. The distance of the way, 
especially in bad weather, utterly incapacitates many persons, 
old and young, to go to the house of God, which makes us 
willing rather to expend considerable of oar earthly treasure in 
maintaining the public worship of God among ourselves, than 
to lose our spiritual treasure and undo any of our jjoor immor- 
tal souls, esteeming each of them better than a one thousand 
worlds. 

Hoping and humbly begging and praying that the honorable 



18 

gentleuieu of the Assembly will pity us, aud be uiirsing fathers 
to us, and deal with us as they would be dealt with ; encour- 
aging of us in our endeavor to honor God and obtain eternal 
happiness beyond the grave, that they would x>lease to consider 
there are many places made district societies, the less than we, 
and nearer the town ; as West Haven, Newiugton, and many 
others; aud also that the town from which we separate is well 
able to maintain their minister without us, they having without 
us £13,000 on their list. If the Honorable General Assembly 
will be i)leased to hear this, our prayer, we will ever pray, etc. 

Signed by Thomas Hill and sixty other men.* 

On consideration had in the lower house this petition was 
rejected. 

Test, Theodore Ktmberly, 

Very soon after the rejection another x)etition was presented 
to the Honorable General Assembly by Thomas Hill and others, 
asking for a committee to be appointed to view the inhabitants 
of the parish, and report to the next General Assembly in Octo- 
ber, 1775. 

Their petition was granted for a committee. That committee, 
consisting of Messrs. Copp, Lewis and Hawley, reported favor- 
ably to the General Assembly in October. "At a General 
Assembly holden at IS'ew. Haven, in his Majesty's Colony of 
Connecticut, in l^ew England, on the 14th day of October, in 
the 12th year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George, King 
of Great Britain, 1725, upon the petition of Thomas Hill, of 
Fairfield, in behalf of himself and other of his neighbors living 
within the bounds following : South southwest by rear of the 
building lots in Fairfield, easterly by the Mill Eiver so called, 
east north-easterly by the parish of Stratfield, north by the 
north bounds of Fairfield, first brought to this Assembly, hear- 
ing the reasons offered by Mr. Ebenezer "Wakeman, agent for 
the old parish in Fairfield, why said Hill and neighbors should 
not have parish privileges granted them, as well as the argu- 
ments of said i^etitioners why they should be a parish, do here- 
by order and grant that said j)etitioners shall be a parish, and 
are hereby enabled to set up the worship of God among them- 
selves ; and the bounds aforesaid shall be the bounds of said 
parish, and so remain until this Assembly shall order otherwise. 
And it is hereby enacted that said parish shall have and be 
allowed all privileges as are by law allowed to other parishes 
in this government." 

* Note C — Appendix. 



19 

But the name of the parish was not changed from ISTorth-West 
to Greeufiehl until two years aft^r, as the following record will 
show: 

" Connecticut Colony. 

At a General Assembly holden at Kew Haven, in His Majes- 
ty's Colony of ConDecticut, in iSTew England, on the 12th day 
of October, in the first year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord 
George Second, King of Great Britain, 1727. This Assembly 
orders that the North-West Parish of Fairfield shall be called by 
the name of Greenfield, and be so recorded." 

From this record you will perceive that Greenfield Parish, at 
its origin, embraced all the north portion of the town of Fair- 
field. In the year 1757 some families in the north-eastern sec- 
tion of the town of Fairfield were organized into the Bai)tist 
Church and Society of Stratfield, and in the year 1757 several 
families in Greenfield Parish helped form the Congregational 
Church and Society in Northfield, town of Weston, and in 1763 
a large number of families left Greenfield Church and Society 
and formed the Congregational Church in Weston, now Easton. 
Since that time the bounds of Greenfield Parish have remained 
much the same as they were more than one hundred years ago, 
being four miles square. In Dr. Dwight's day the parish num- 
bered 1,000 inhabitants, and in 1836 about 1,200. Near the 
close of the last century flax was extensively raised as an article 
of commerce in Greenfield and Fairfield, even more than in all 
New England. Theodore Burr told Dr. Dwight that for ten 
years, when he was naval officer of Fairfield, there was sent out 
of the town annually an average of 20,000 bushels of flaxseed. 
Then could be seen here in Greenfield twenty acres of flax in a 
single field. But long since flax has ceased to be raised as an 
article of commerce, and onions have taken its place, and 
many thousand bushels of the latter are now annually raised 
for the New York market. Few parts of the world are more 
fruitful and healthy than the parish of Greenfield. " In my 
own congregation of 1,000 persons," says Dr. Dwight, " during 
one year of my ministry here, not a single person died, and 
during another year only two, and one of those was an acci- 
dental death." The parish has always been noted for the salu- 
brity of its climate and the beauty of its scenery. Well has the 
pen of Dr. Dwight embalmed these characteristics of the place 
f,,y^ prose and poetry, and made them known wherever the Eng- 



20 

lish lauguage is spoken or read. We do not wonder that the 
muse [inspired liim to portray in poetry the beautiful scenery 
from his country seat on Greenfield Hill, for a more enchanting 
spot cannot be found. 

After the removal of Dr. D wight to New Haven his homestead 
was purchased by Isaac Bronsou, Esq., a gentleman of wealth 
from New York city, as a summer residence, to which i)lace he 
retired during a large portion of each year as long as he lived. 
He greatly improved the place, the parish and the town, 
by setting out beautiful shade trees. And the same work has 
been continued by his son, Frederick Bronsou, Esq., and by his 
grandson, who bears his father's name, and is the present owner 
of the estate. 

With the first settlement of the State, town and parish, the 
cause of education received the early attention of the people. 
They would not allow their children to grow up in ignorance, 
but desired them to be educated and qualified to become useful 
and worthy citizens. Therefore, our forefathers reared the church 
and the schoolhouse side by side, and led their children to these 
fountains of human and divine knowledge. Ever since, in the 
land of the Puritans, the church and the schoolhouse have been 
the light to enlighten the minds and ennoble the hearts of the 
people. Nay, they have been the fortresses to defend, and the 
glory to crown the land of our fathers. In Greenfield, from the 
first organization of the church and society, the educating of 
the children and the preaching of the gospel have been re- 
garded of equal importance. At the annual parish meeting 
provision was made every year for supplying the schools with 
teachers, and for maintaining the preaching of the gospel. At 
a meeting held October, 1735, " voted, that there shall be a school 
kept eleven months in this parish, after this manner : Four 
months in the centre school ; three months in Hull's Farms, 
and two months in Lyon Farms; and that the county money 
shall be divided in proportion to the time above mentioned." So 
the common schools were annually provided for according to 
law, at the annual meeting of the school society, for more than 
a century. 

When Dr. Dwight settled here a new impulse was given the 
cause of education, especially the higher education of the chil- 
dren and the youth. Soon after his settlement he started a 
select school in the southeast room of the dwelling house now 



21 



owned and occupied by Mrs. Uriali Hubbell. In due time the 
select school grew into an academy, and a building was ei;ected 
on the common east of the church, for the Greenfield Academy. 
The school grew so popular, and became so famous under Dr. 
Dwight's instruction, that students flocked to it from aU parts 
of the United States, from Canada and from South America, it 
was Dr. Dwight's ambition to make his first class of pupils 
equal in scholarship to the students of Yale College so 
that the Greenfield Academy almost became a rival to that 
institution of learning. Many of his scholars, in after years, 
became celebrated, and distinguished in all the learned profes- 
sions. After Dr. D wight, the Eev. Jeremiah Day, D. D., taught 
the academy for some time, so that Greenfield has really tui- 
nished two distinguished presidents for Yale College. Some ot 
the other celebrated teachers of the Academy were Eev. Dr. 
Samuel Blatchford, Eev. Wm. Belden, Eev. Nathaniel Freeman, 
Wm Dwight Waterman, Esq., Charles Shelton, Esq., Park 
Hill, Esq., and many others. But at length, for the want of a 
permanent fund, the Academy decreased in numbers, and has 

for some years ceased to be. , ^ i «^^- +i 

Could a better thing be done, at the one hundred and fiftieth 
anniversary of Greenfield Church and Society, by some men ot 
wealth and descendants of the fathers of this parish, than to 
endow the old Academy under the honored name of Dwight 
Academy, from its distinguished founder « A word to the wise 

is sufficient. 

I shall now proceed to speak of the meeting houses which 
have been occnpied as placets of worship. The first meeting 
house was built before the parish was formed and the Society 
estabhshed. The building must have been a very cheap and 
rude structm-e, still it was used for a house of worship. 
"At a meeting of the North- West parish it was voted, No- 
vember 11th, 1725, that the meeting house shall be the 
place where the parish school shall be kept six months m 
the year. Also, March 28th, 1726, the parish voted that 
the house we meet in shall be the place to ordam Eev. 
John Goodsell. That house was used only temporarily as 
the place of worship; for at a meeting of the North- West 
parish, held October 7th, 1726, it was voted that a meetmg 
house should be built, and be begun the year ensumg, 
and that the dimensions of said meeting house shall be 52 feet 



in length, 42 feet in breadth and 24 or 25 feet between joints. 
At the same parish meeting it was voted that the meeting- 
house shall be set and stand half way between Mr. Samuel 
Whitlock's northeast corner of his home lot and the meeting- 
house where we now meet. Thomas Hill, John Burr, Moses 
Diamond and Benjamin Banks were chosen a committee to take 
care of building the meeting house, and to agree with some 
person or persons to build the said house. The parish voted 
December 11th, 1727, that Samuel Thorp and Benjamin Darling- 
shall have £5 12s. more than their bargain for framing said 
meeting house." 

'^ In Deceuiber, 1730, voted that Lieut. Moses Diamond shall 
have power to agree with any persons to carry the work on the 
meeting house, so far as the parish shall raise money for the 
same, and to be paid for his trouble. In December, 1736, voted 
that there shall be a pew built on each side of the pulpit at the 
committee's discretion. The following year, December, 1737, 
voted that Moses Diamond, Jr., be a committee to lay out what 
money is raised for the meeting house, and that Samuel Dia- 
mond, Jr., and Joseph Banks be a committee to regulate the 
pewing of the meeting house, and they shall lay out every man 
his place according to what he has paid toward building the 
meeting house. In January, 1740, voted that there shall be 
four braces put in the meeting house, and March, 1742, voted 
that the meeting house be finished, so far as to lath and plaster 
under the upper lioor and under the gallerj^ floor, and to. make 
one seat around the gallery." 

So by degrees the fathers built ^the house of the Lord ; but 
September, 1743, the parish " voted that those persons who 
had paid the most toward building the meeting house shall 
have pews laid out to them in the house, and that every man 
who has a pew laid out shall be at the charge of building the 
same." Accordingly, the pews having been built they were ac- 
cepted, and Joseph Wheeler had pew No. 1 ; Benjamin Banks, 
1^0. 2 ; Joseph Diamond, No. 3 ; Nathaniel Hull, No. 4 ; Daniel 
Bradley, No. 5; Benjamin Gilbert, No. 6; John Thorp, No. 7; 
Joseph Banks, No. 8 ; Samuel Wakempu, No. 9 ; Daniel Burr, 
No. 10 ; John Gilbert, No. 11 ; Samuel Bradley, No. 12 -, Ben- 
jamin Sherwood, No. 13; heirs of Eliphalet Hull, No. 14; 
Joseph Hill, No. 15 ; Jabez Wakemau, No. 16 ; David Wil- 
liams, No. 17 ; Samuel Price, No. 18. In confirmation thereof 



23 

we have consented to set our hands and seals, this 22d day of 

September, 1743. 

Andrew Burr, 

Samuel^ Burr, 

Joseph Wai^et^ian, 

Committee for assigning the seats." 

The parish then "voted that Mr. Samuel Bradley shall get a 
bell for said Greenfield Meeting House, and said bell shall be 
lodged at the minister's house of said Greenfield." That was 
the first bell, probably, that was ever rung to call the people 
together to the house of God on Greenfield Hill, 133 years 
ago. 

Seventeen years after, the second meeting house ha^iJlg be- 
come old and dilapidated, the parish " voted, February, 1760, 
to build a new meeting house, and to have it stand on the 
place where stands a monument of stones ; and that Samuel 
Bradley, Jr., be a committee to apply to the County Court in 
behalf of the parish to affix and establish the described place 
for the meeting house to stand on. Also voted, that the dimen- 
sions of the new meeting house shall be 60 feet in length, 42 
feet in breadth, and have a good, proportionate well built 
steeple." In November, 1760, thfe parish voted " that as many 
l^ews as can with convenience be laid out, on the ground floor 
of the new meeting house, by joiners that understand the busi- 
ness, and the spots or places so laid out, shall be fairly sold to 
the highest bidder, and the money raised to defray the expense 
of the house. Also voted that those who purchase the spots or 
places be obliged to build their pews by a limited time, and to 
build them uniform, all alike." In the following year the spots 
for pews were sold, as the record shows : 

" We, tlie subscribers, being api:)ointed at the meeting of the 
10th of Xovember last to sell the spots or pews, then voted to 
be laid out in our new meeting house for pews to be erected on, 
have, according to the vote of the parish, at their above said 
meeting relating to said pews, laid out and sold the above said 
spots or places for pews in the manner following, namely, with 
the assistance of Da^id Bradley, Jr. : Beginning at the east 
side of the south double door, have laid out the spots or places 
for pew Xo. 1, and so successively laid out and numbered all 
around the house till we come to the west side of said double 
door, they beiug No. 26 ; and have also this day sold the above 



24 

spots or places, except pew No. 15, for the purposes aforesaid, 
to the following persons, with the sum of each spot or i)lace 
annexed to his name, which persons are obliged by the condi- 
tions of said vendue to have their pews well built and com- 
pleted, upon their own cost or charge, by the first day of Octo- 
ber next, or forfeit the same to the Society." Accordingly they 
were sold as follows : To Gershom Banks, pew No. 1, £14 15s. ; 
to Samuel Bradley, pew No. 2, £16 10s. The whole amount of 
the sale of these spots or pews was 489 pounds 12 shillings.* 

At length the third meeting house being completed — Dr. 
Dwight's church, as it has been called — " the parish voted, at a 
meeting held October, 1762, to have the old meeting house and 
second house of worship pulled down, and Mr. Joseph Hill and 
Mr. Daniel Sherwood were chosen a committee to order the 
pulling down of said house, and parcel it out and sell it at pub- 
lic vendue to the highest bidder, in behalf of the parish." 

The new house of worship was much admired in its day, on 
account of its fair proportions and its tall and elegant steeple, 
the belfry of the church commanding an extensive view of the 
Long Island Sound and shore. One historian, Mr. Barber, " de- 
clares that no other spot in Connecticut can show such a com- 
manding, extensive and beautiful prospect." In his day, from 
the belfry of Dr. D wight's church could be seen seventeen 
churches, five lighthouses, and East Eock, near New Haven. In 
that meeting house the people of Greenfield worshipped for the 
long period of eighty-two years. At length, like all other mate- 
rial things, it grew old, and a new meeting house was demanded 
for the worship of Jehovah. Soon after the settlement of Eev. 
Mr. Sturges as pastor, the subject of building a new house of 
worship was talked about and agitated by the people of Green- 
field. But how could it be done, when all the pews in the old 
house were held by deeds derived from their fathers ? It was a 
difficult thing to get the consent of even a majority of the pew 
owners to give them up, as a step preparatory^ and necessary 
to the iDulling down of the old meeting house. Still, after much 
labor on the part of the pastor, Eev. Mr. Sturges, Governor Tom- 
linson and others, the consent of a majority of the pew holders 
was obtained to pull down the old and build a new meeting- 
house. The committee of the Society, then consisting of Dea- 
con John Banks, Deacon William B. Morehouse and Mr. 

* Note D — Appendix. 



25 

Samuel Betts, took the responsibility of pulling down the old 
church. Having done the work of taking it down, a new 
house of worship must be built. Governor Gideon Tomlinson, 
Doctor Eufus Blakeman, Deacon William B. Morehouse, Dea- 
con John Banks and Mr, Horace Banks were appointed a com- 
mittee to superintend the building of the new meeting house. 

While all the members of the church and society contributed 
generously and worked nobly to secure the new Gothic meeting 
house, special mention should be made of Deacon John Banks 
and Deacon Wm. B. Morehouse, who were most active in the 
laborious work of building that most beautiful house of wor- 
ship, which was much admired, until five years after its erec- 
tion the house was entirely consumed by fire, Sunday night, 
November 14 th, 1853. 

Those persons who had built the Gothic church at great ex- 
pense, toil and sacrifice, could not help exclaiming, as they saw 
it in ruins : 

" Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers worshipped, 
is burned with fire, and all our pleasant things are laid waste." 
Some of those who did much towards defraying the exjiense of 
building that house of the Lord, including several persons of 
the Bronson family and of the Murray family, have passed on- 
ward to their heavenly reward. Soon after the burning of the 
Gothic church Capt. Abram D. Baldwin opened his large house 
and kindly invited the people of Greenfield to meet there for 
the winter to worship the Lord their God. 

Though for a time the people were somewhat discouraged 
and cast down on account of their loss, yet they were not de- 
stroyed. Under the leadership of their pastor, Eev. Mr. 
Sturges, aided by his office bearers. Deacon Wm. B. More- 
house, Deacon John Banks and many others, he said unto the 
peojile, " Come, let us arise and build." So they strengthened 
each other's hands for the good work. As $4,000 insurance 
money was obtained on the burnt building, and $2,500 had 
been subscribed by members of the church and society, they 
engaged with new energy and zeal in the work of building 
the house of the Lord. In the following month of March, 
1854, the society voted to build a new church ; and none but 
those who engaged heartily in the work of building this 
sanctuary, where we are now assembled, can tell what an 
amount of labor, time and treasure it cost. But those who 



26 

did the work aud contributed the mouey kuow what it cost 
them. May this house long remain as a. lasting monument to 
their memory. 

In this connection, 1 cannot forbear an allusion to the build- 
ing of the parsonage at the commencement of my ministry 
among you, and near the completion of the loOth year of your 
existence as a church and ecclesiastical society. May the house 
in which your pastor and his family live, long continue as a to- 
ken of the generosity of those parishioners who built it. May 
the builder, Mr. Uriah Perry, aud the building committee, con- 
sisting of Mr. Morris Murwin, Mr. Oliver Burr, Deacon N. B. 
Hill, Deacon Wm. B. Morehouse, and all the donors and help- 
ers in the good enterprise of the building the parsonage, ex- 
perience the truth of the divine promise that " it is more blessed 
to give than to receive." 

We come now to notice the history of the organization. of the 
Greenfield Congregational Church, and to allude to those who 
have been pastors and ministers of this church. 

The following is the original church covenant, subscribed by 
the Christian professors of Fairfield Korth-West Parish, alias 
Greenfield, this day. May 18th, 1726, 150 years ago to-day, em- 
bodied in a church state by divine allowance : 

" We, underwritten, through the strength of Christ, without 
whom we can do nothing, and in the presence of God and this 
assembly, do covenant and promise to deny ungodliness and 
worldly lust, and live soberly, righteously and godly in this 
present evil world ; solemnly avouching the Lord Jehovah to 
be our God, and the God of our seed, giving up ourselves aud 
ours to be his people, to live to the glory of his great name ; 
solemnly avouching also the Lord Jesus Christ, the only medi- 
ator between God and man, to be our Prophet aud Teacher, our 
only Priest and Propitiation, our Supreme Lord and Law Giver, 
professing ourselves heartily engaged to a sole dependence on 
His doctrine, to an entire reliance on His righteousness, to a 
willing obedience to His government ; solemnly avouching also 
the Holy Ghost for our Sanctifier and Comforter, to be led by 
His conduct, to cherish aud entertain His holy motions aud 
influences, subjecting ourselves to the government of Christ in 
His church, aud solemnly engaging to walk one with another 
in brotherly love, watchfulness and communion, and hereto 
may Christ Jesus our Lord help us. Amen." 

To this covenant subscribed eleven men, namely, John Good- 
sell, Cornelius Hull, Obadiah Gilburd, John Hide, George Hull, 
Peter Burr, Daniel Bradley, Theophilus Hull, Jehu Burr, Stephen 



27 

Burr, Ebenezer Hull. June 19tli, 1726, fifteen women were re- 
commended by some of the neighboring churches, most of them 
from Fairfield church, and added to this church by the consent 
of the eleven brethren. On the same day at the organization of 
the church, Wednesday, May ISth, 1726, Eev. John Goodsell, 
who had been preaching to the people for some months, was 
ordained as pastor. Mr. Goodsell was born in Stratford, 1706, 
graduated at Yale College, 1724. He came here, and was or- 
dained at the age of twenty years. He married Miss Mary 
Lewis, of Stratford, and they had fifteen children, including a 
pair of twins, seven sons and eight daughters. Some of the 
numerous descendants of the Eev. Mr. Goodsell are with us to- 
day to rejoice in the honorable name which they have inherited 
from the first pastor of Greenfield church. During the last 
years of his pastorate he suffered from sickness and infirmity, 
but departed this life December 26th, 1763, in the 57th year of 
his age, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. To show 
the change in the past 150 years, the following fact is related : 
Eev. Mr. Goodsell, being the owner of a smart horse, and being 
in want of a pair of gloves, rode horseback to New York city, 
bought his gloves and came back the same day. There are not 
many ministers who can do that now. Under his ministry the 
church prospered and increased in numbers, so that at the close 
of the first year of his pastorate it numbered 70 members, 31 of 
whom were added on the profession of their faith. During his 
long ministrj' here of thirty years, the longest of any pastor, 
212 persons united with the church by profession, and 256 were 
received on the half way covenant, as it was called. Of those 
persons who were baptized and admitted to the church, nine of 
them were negroes and slaves. 

The farmers in the last century owned slaves in Greenfield. 
Hezekiah Bradley, Esq., a large farmer who lived in the house 
now occupied by Mr. Millbank, had more than twenty slaves. 
One of these, called Nance, was kept in the family for three or 
four generations, and died in the family of James C. Loomis, 
Esq., of Bridgeport. At length slavery was abolished by law in 
Connecticut in 1854, and the churches were delivered from its 
curse and its stain. In August, 1757, the Society voted to send 
for Eev. Mr. Burritt, of New Fairfield, to come here and preach 
as a probationer. The following year. May 30th, 1757, put to 
vote " Whether the Society is williug that Mr. Jonathan Elmer 



28 

shall be recoinmeuded to the association for their advice; 
whether they think proper to recommend Eev. Mr. Elmer to 
the Society to preach the Gospel among us, as a probationer." 
It was voted in the affirmative by a majority of 71 to 9. We 
suppose the association did not approve of their sending for 
him, for at a subsequent meeting of the Society, September 2d, 
1757, it was put to vote " Whether the Society is willing and 
desirous to have Mr. Pomeroy to preach with us as a proba- 
tioner, in order to his settlement in the ministry, and it was 
voted unanimousl}' in the affirmative by 77 persons." 

The committee of the Society, consisting of John Gilbert, 
Joseph Bradley and Daniel Sherwood, extended the call to Mr. 
Pomeroy, and he gave an affirmative answer, and December 
8th, 1757, was ordained pastor. The committee of arrange- 
ments for his ordination were Capt. Moses Diamond, Capt. 
Daniel Bradley, John Gilbert, Joseph Bradley, Jr., and Daniel 
Sherwood. The services of the ordination were : Introductory 
prayer by Eev. Samuel Sherwood, sermon by Eev. Xoah Wells, 
ordaining prajer by Eev. Moses Dickinson, charge to the 
pastor by Eev. Noah Hobart, right hand of fellowship by Eev. 
Daniel Buckingham, concluding prayer by Eev. Jonathan 
Ingalls. 

Mr. Pomeroy was born in Northampton, December 14th, 
1732, graduated at Yale College 1753, and remained one year 
after graduation in New Haven, as a Berkeley scholar, a favor 
granted on account of his superior scholarship. Was tutor in 
Yale College during the years 1756 and '57. His wife was the 
daughter of Jonathan Law, Governor of Connecticut, and they 
had one son who was a clergyman, Eev. Jonathan Law Pome- 
roy, for some years pastor of the Congregational Church at 
Worthington, Mass. 

Eev. Mr. Pomeroy, second pastor of Greenfield Church for 
twelve years, was a learned divine, a judicious and excellent 
pastor, who preached the Gospel faithfully to the people, and 
died 1770, in the midst of his usefulness, at the early age of 37 
years, and His body lies buried in Greenfield Cemetery, with 
those of his parish, to whom he administered the consolation 
of the Gospel more than 100 years ago. During his ministry 
two valuable silver tankards were given to the church for the 
communion service, one by Deacon Thomas Hill, and inscribed 
" The gift of Thomas Hill, Esq., to the Church of Christ in 



29 

Greenfield, A. D. 1764." The other by Deacon Samuel Bradley, 
and inscribed " The gift of Samuel Bradley to the Church of 
Christ in Greenfield, A. D. 1768." These vessels have been 
used at every administration of the Lord's Sacrament to this 
church for more than 100 years. During Mr. Pomeroy's minis- 
try, December 13th, 1762, a colony went from Greenfield 
Church and organized the church in Weston, now Easton. 
The Easton Congregational Church may be call our eldest 
daughter, being 113 years old 5 well may we rejoice therefore in 
her prosperity. After the death of Mr. Pomeroy, May 20th, 
1772, Kev. Wm. Mackey Tennent was invited to become the 
pastor of Greenfield Church by the large majority of 83 votes. 
He accepted the call of the Church and Society. He was the 
son of Eev. Charles Tennent, of White Clay Creek, Delaware, 
who was younger brother of the more famous preachers, Eevs. 
Wm. and Gilbert Tennent. Mr. Tennent was ordained pastor 
of Greenfield Church, June 17th, 1772 5 Deacon Hill, John 
Bradley and Samuel Bradley, Esqs., were chosen a committee 
to provide for the ordination. The services of the ordination 
were : Introductory prayer by Kev. Samuel Camp, sermon by 
Eev. Samuel Sherwood, ordaining prayer by Eev. Noah Hobart, 
charge to pastor by Eev. Moses Dickinson, right hand of fellow- 
ship by Eev. Noah Wells, concluding xirayer by Eev. Jonathan 
Ingalls. 

He graduated at the college of New Jersey, 1763, received 
the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1773 from Yale College, and 
was moderator of the General Assembly in 1777. His wife was 
the daughter of the Eev. Dr. John Eogers, of New York city. 
He was a most worthy minister of the New Testament, and an 
excellent pastor. During his ministrj^ here he had the confi- 
dence of his people in a remarkable degree, and kept them 
together during the war of the American Eevolution, when 
many churches in the United States were scattered and left 
without a pastor in a low spiritual condition. Mr. Tennent was 
a man of great sweetness of temper and politeness of manner, 
and distinguished for hospitality. The society of Greenfield 
showed their appreciation of his labor, in increasing his salary 
from time to time, and in giving him annually forty loads of 
wood. In this record we have proof of their generosity : 
" Whereas the war has greatly enhanced the price of all the 
necessaries of life to that degree that it is impracticable for Mr. 



30 

Teunent, our pastor, to support himself aud family ou the 
nomiual sum we covenanted and agreed to pay him for his yearly 
salary; and, whereas, in our opinions the enlarging of Mr. Ten- 
uent's salary by a public rote might not only have a tendency 
to depreciate the currency, but also be hereafter made a prece- 
dent of, when the currency shall come to a standard and provi- 
sions to the old price ; for the above mentioned reasons we, the 
subscribers, hereby agree to pay to Daniel Sherwood, Jr., com- 
mittee man appointed by this parish to get subscriptions for 
Mr. Tennent, what we have severally subscribed and annexed 
to our names, by the first day of March next, or the same pay 
and deliver unto Mr. Tennent by said time over and above the 
nominal sum we have agreed to pay to Mr. Tennent for his 
yearly salary, in order the better to support himself and family 
in the difficult and extraordinary times, as witness our hands 
in Greenfield, the 17th November, 1778 :" 

" Daniel Sherwood, li bushels of wheat ; Cornelius Hull, 4 
bushels of Indian corn ; Eliphalet Hull, 4 bushels of corn ; John 
Alvord, 1 pair of women's shoes; John Hull, 20 weight of 
butter ; Jedediah Hull, 2 bushels of corn and one of wheat ; 
Albert Sherwood, 2 bushels of wheat ; Joseph Straton, 6 bushels 
of wheat; John Straton, 1 bushel of wheat; Stephen Straton, 
6 lbs. of tiax ; Seth Sherwood, 2 bushels of wheat ; James Eed- 
field, 15 lbs. of pork ; Nehemiah Banks, 40 lbs. of pork ; Oliver 
Middlebrooks, 1 bushel of corn ; Ebenezer Banks, | bushel of 
Lisbon salt ; Joseph Banks, 1 barrel of cider ; Eliphalet Banks, 
1 barrel of cider." 

After leaving Greenfield Mr. Tennent became pastor of a 
Presbyterian Church in Abington, near Philadelphia, where he 
died in the beginning of December, 1810, blessed with an assur- 
ance of the favor of his God and Saviour. 

At a parish meeting, August 28th, 1752, it was voted to give 
Mr. Abram Baldwin an invitation to preach the coming winter, 
but he did not accept of it ; for in the following mouth, October 
29th, 1782, the Society voted to send to New Haven to give Mr. 
D wight an invitation to preach the gospel to this people. He 
probably supplied the pulpit afterward most of the time, till his 
ordination as pastor of Greenfield Church, November 5th, 1783, 
and his ordination sermon was preached by his uncle, the Eev. 
Dr. Jonathan Edwards, pastor of a church in New Haven. The 
committee of arrangements for the ordination of Mr. Timothy 



31 

Dwight were : Deacon Joseph Hill, Deacou David Williams, 
Gershoin Hubbell, Esq., Hezekiah Bradley, Esq., and Nehemiah 
Banks. 

The services of the ordination Avere introductory prayer by 
Rev. Justus Mitchell, sermon by Eev. Jonathan Edwards, 
D. D.,* ordaining prayer by Rev. Andrew Elliott, charge to the 
pastor hy Rev. Samuel Camp, right hand of fellowship by Rev. 
Isaac Lewis, concluding prayer by Rev. Jonathan Murdock. 

Dr. Dwight was born at Northampton, 1752, graduated at 
Yale College 1769, at the head of his class in scholarship, and 
was tutor in the college from 1771 to 1777, and chaplain in the 
United States army from 1778 to 1783, and a friend of Wash- 
ington, representative in the legislature of Massachusetts for 
one or two years ; then was talked of as a member of Congress, 
but he preferred to become a minister of Christ and a preacher of 
the gospel. The people of Greenfield were loth to part with 
him after he was chosen President of Yale College, and pro- 
tested before the consociation, that was called to consider the ex- 
pediency of dismissing him from his pastorate here, so as to 
accept the presidency of the college. Still all the efforts of 
Greenfield people to keep him were in vain, though he was 
settled for life, for the consociation dismissed him August 11th, 
1795, after a successful pastorate of twelve years.t It was 
Dr. Dwight's good fortune to honor every position he occupied, 
and he was undoubtedly the best and greatest divine New 
England ever produced. 

Judge Roger Minot Sherman, of Fairfield, declared " that no 
man, except the Father of his country, had ever conferred 
greater benefit on our nation than President Dwight, the fourth 
pastor of Greenfield Church." 

To show you his power as a preacher over his hearers, we 
have been told that on one occasion he happened to preach in 
the first church at Bridgeport on morality and honesty, and 
that the next day several of those who had heard him returned 
the axes, hoes, forks and other implements of husbandry which 
they had stolen, or taken without leave. As I was told this fact 
the thought came to my mhid, O ! that Dr. Dwight could arise 
from his grave and preach to those of our day, in our towns, 
cities, in the State and National Government, who are disposed 
to rob the public treasury. After his dismission, the cluirch 

* Kote E — Appendix. f N'ote i^— Appendix. 



32 

was without a pastor for teu years. At a meeting of the Society^ 
November 25th, 1795, it was voted to hire Eev. Mr. Beaiufield to 
preach with us till the last Sunday iu December. lu the fol- 
lowing month of April, 1796, the Society voted to hire the Eev. 
Dr. Samuel Blatchford for one year.* He was an Englishman, 
a good scholar and a sound theologian ; an acceptable preacher 
and pastor, and often eloquent iu his address ; but at the close 
of his engagement here for one year he left Greenfield and went 
to Bridgeport, where he became pastor of the first Congrega- 
tional Church in 1797, and was the father of seventeen children. 
In March, 1800, Rev. Mr. Yates preached as a candidate for a set- 
tlement, and received a call, which he declined to accept. Also 
the same year, Eev. Mr. Ten Yeck received and declined a call 
to settle here. In the following year, February 12th, 1801, the 
Society gave Eev. Stanley Griswold a call to settle with a salary 
of $560, but he declined the offer. The call to him was renewed 
June 30th, 1803, and he consented to preach for about a year, 
when he baptized fifty persons, eight adults and forty-two chil- 
dren. He was a Jeflersonian Democrat, and very popular with 
a portion of the people, and disposed to administer religious 
ordinances in a broad church way. In after years he left the 
ministry, removed to Ohio, was there chosen Senator of the 
United States, and became Judge of the Supreme Court of that 
State. On the 10th of November, 1801, a call was given to 
Eev. Mr. Niles to settle in Greenfield, which he declined. Also, 
June 7th, 1802, an invitation was extended to Eev. Washington 
McKnight to settle in the work of the gospel ministry in said 
Society on a salary of $560. He accepted the call, and the day 
was appointed for the consociation to meet and effect the union, 
but objections being presented by a minority of the church be- 
fore the consociation, he withdrew his acceptance of the call, 
and the church continued to remain without a pastor. But the 
majority were so exasperated at losing Mr. McKnight, whom 
they admired, that they voted, September 9th, 1802, " that Mr. 
Ward should not preach in the meeting house, although he will 
preach for nothing." At length the Lord sent to them Mr. 
Horace Holly, and he was ordained pastor of Greenfield Church 
September 13th, 1805. The committee of arrangements for the 
ordination were Gershom Wakeman, Abel Banks, Moses Betts 
and Thomas Wheeler. 

* Note G — Appendix. 



33 

The services at tlie ordination were : introductory prayer by 
Rev. Piatt Buifett; sermon by Rev. Isaac Lewis, D. D. ; ordaining- 
prayer by Rev. Mattbias Burnett, D. D. ; charge to the pastor 
by Rev. Andrew Elliott ; right hand of fellowship by Rev. John 
Koyes; address to the people by Rev. Justus Mitchell; con- 
cluding prayer by Rev. Samuel Goodrich. 

Mr. Holly was born in Salisbury, Conn., February 13th, 1781, 
graduated at Yale College in 1803, ordained pastor Sept., 1805, 
and dismissed in September, 1808, after a successful i^ast orate 
here of three years. He was a distinguished preacher, an elo- 
quent orator, and the Church and Society increased in numbers 
and prospered under his administration. During his pastorate 
there were added to the church forty-nine members on profes- 
sion of their faith, making an average of sixteen each year. 
While here he was an evangelical minister of the gospel, but 
there was a change in his theological views when he became 
pastor of the Holly Street Unitarian Church, Boston, in 1809. 
After leaving there, he was chosen President of the Transyl- 
vania University, Lexington, Kentucky, which office he held 
nine years. Leaving there, he died on his voyage to jSTew 
York, of the yellow fever, July 31st, 1827. 

Soon after the dismission of the Rev. Dr. Holly, October 11th, 
1808, the Society voted to refer a petition to the Legislature of 
this State, to grant them a lottery for the purpose of raising a 
fund to assist them in suj)porting the gospel ministry, and 
appointed Ebenezer Banks their agent for the above purpose, 
with full power to employ counsel. For the honor of Chris- 
tianity, I believe the jDetition was not granted. 

In May 17th, 1810, the Society "voted to give Rev. David 
x^ustin a call to take the oversight of the church, so long as he 
will accept of a three cent tax for his yearly salary, and so long 
as the Society shall agree to raise a three cent tax for the pur- 
pose." 

As he would not accept of the offer, the Society " voted at a 
subsequent meeting, June 28, 1810, to give Rev. David Austin 
8500 a year instead of the three cent tax voted at the other 
meeting, so long as he shall continue in discharge of the gospel 
ministry with us," which was about two years. He was one of 
the most popular and eccentric preachers of his day, but his 
reason is supposed to have been affected by an illness of the 
scarlet fever while pastor of the Presbyterian church, Eliza- 

3 



34 

betlitown, IS". J. He believed iu the literal return of the Israel- 
ites to the Holy Laud, and that the Jews of the United States 
would assemble at Xew Haven, where he built houses for them 
and a wharf for their use, and from there, the place of Mr. 
Austin's birth, he believed the Jews would embark for the land 
of Israel. But with all his errors and eccentricity, he was liked 
as a preacher on account of his eloquence, intelligence and 
amiableness of character, and is still remembered with interest 
by those who knew him. ]S"ear the close of his hfe he became 
more rational and scriptural in his views, and died in peace, 
rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. 

The society gave a call to Eev. Wm. Belden, Aug. 3, 1812, to 
settle in the work of the gospel ministry with a salary of $500, 
which he accepted. Gov. Gideon Tomlinson, David Hull, Esq., 
and Hull Bradley, Esq., were appointed a committee on 
the part of the Society to arrange for the ordination of Mr. 
Belden, that took place October 1st, 1812. The services of the 
ordination were : introductory prayer by Eev. Sylvanus Haight ; 
sermon by Eev. Mr. Waterman; ordaining prayer by Eev. 
Isaac Lewis, D. D. ; charge to the pastor by Eev. Hezekiah 
Eipley, D. D. ; right hand of fellowship by Eev. Herman Hum- 
phrey, D. D. ; address to the people by Eev. Daniel Smith ; 
concluding prayer by Eev. John Noyes. He excelled more as a 
teacher of the youth than as a preacher of the gospel. In both 
positions he did what he could for the intellectual and spiritual 
welfare of his flock, over whom the Holy Ghost had made him 
an overseer, until he was dismissed from his pastorate, April 
3d, 1721. After his dismission the pulpit was supplied for a 
time by the Eev. Mr. Mcholson, an Englishman. 

In ISTovember 21st, 1821, a unanimous call was given by the 
Church and Society to the Eev. Eichard Varick Dey to settle 
and become their pastor. He accepted their invitation and was 
ordained here the loth day of January, 1823. The committee of 
arrangements for his ordination were Abram D. Baldwin, 
David Hill, Thomas B. Osborn, Hull Bradley and Gershom 
Wakeman. 

The services of the ordination were : introductory prayer by 
Eev. l^athan Burton ; sermon by Eev. Stephen W. Eowan, 
D. D. ; ordaining prayer by Eev. John Noyes ; charge to the 
pastor by Eev. Nathaniel Freeman; right hand of fellowship by 
Eev. Edward W. Hooker ; address to the people by Eev. Dan- 
iel Smith ; concluding prayer by Eev. Henry FuUer. 



35 

Being a handsome young man, of commanding presence and 
natural eloquence, Mr. Dey became very popular and was much 
admired as a preacher at home and abroad, so that a multitude 
flocked to hear him, and the old meeting house was not large 
enough to accommodate the congregation. But, while very 
popular, he acquired the evil habit of drinking the social glass 
with some of his distinguished jDarishioners, and before he was 
aware of it he drank to intoxication. Thus, a most distin- 
guished preacher and eloquent orator was ruined by intemper- 
ance. This having become public, the consociation was called, 
and by that body of ministers and delegates he was tried and 
deposed from the ministry. Then, in view of his downfall, all 
beholders were led to exclaim, " How art thou fallen, oh, Luci- 
fer, son of the morning." After Mr. Dey's dismission the Eev. 
Samuel Merwin preached the gospel for some time to this peo- 
ple, and received a call to settle as pastor. 

For a year or two Eev. Chas. Nicholl sup]3lied the pulpit and 
preached the gospel to the few who assembled to hear him. 
Then, in the good providence of God, Rev. Nathaniel Freeman, 
having been dismissed from the pastorate in Easton, came here 
as acting pastor and continued in that relation to this people for 
nearly nine years. Amid many discouragements, trials and 
afflictions, he preached faithfully the gospel here, and during 
the time was called to part with his much beloved wife and 
seven of his children, whose bodies lie buried on Greenfield 
Hill. But, amid much tribulation, he made full proof of his 
ministry and died in triumph of a living faith, June IStb, 1864, 
at the age of 76 years, and his body lies buried beside those of 
his beloved wife and children. 

In 1840 Rev. Eodney G. Dennis, for some mouths, preached 
the gospel to this people. In. April, 1842, Rev. Thomas B. 
Sturges was invited to settle as j)astor. The in-s4tation hav- 
ing been accepted, Deacon Wm. B. Moorehouse, Deacon Seth 
Jennings, Samuel Betts and Abram D. Baldwin were chosen 
as a committee of arrangements for the ordination. The ser- 
vices of the ordination were introductory prayer by Eev. John 
W. Alvord ; sermon by Rev. Edwin Hall, D. D. ; ordaining 
prayer by Rev. Ezra D. Kenney ; charge to the pastor by Rev. 
Noah Coe ; right hand of fellowship by Rev. Lj-man H. Atwater, 
D. D. ; address to the people by Eev. Theopbilus Smith ; con- 
cluding prayer by Rev. Chauncey Wilcox. 



36 

Accordingly, Eev. Mr. Stiirges was ordained pastor of the 
church, June, 1842, and continued in his pastorate here for 
twenty-live years, until June, 1867. His early ministry was 
blest with a general revival, as the fruit of which forty-two 
persons united with the church on the profession of their faith 
in 1843. But I need not speak of the labors and success of the 
beloved, wise and faithful pastor, who, for twenty-five years, 
went in and out among you, preaching Christ and Him crucified. 
The seed that he sowed bore much fruit, not only during his 
ministry but the year following his dismission under the con- 
tinued labors of Eev. K. P. Hibbard and Eev. J. D. Potter, 
evangelist, when a spiritual harvest of sixty persons was gath- 
ered into the church, so that he that soweth and he that reapeth 
may rejoice together. 

My predecessor in the pastoral office, Eev. R P. Hibbard, 
was ordained pastor August 4th, 18G8 ; the society's committee 
for the ordination was Mr. Walter O. Murwin, Mr. John Burr 
and Mr. Cyrus Sherwood. 

Services of the ordination were : introductory prayer by Eev. 
D. E. Austin; sermon by Eev. Edward B. Eankin, D. D. ; 
charge to the pastor by Eev. Frederick Alvord ; right hand of 
fellowship by Eev. Martin Dudley ; address to the people by 
Eev. B. J. Eelyea; concluding prayer by Eev. George W. 
Banks. 

He was dismissed April 27th, 1872. His character, labors 
and usefulness are known to all of you. Your present pastor 
began his labors here, April, 1873, and was installed pastor 
July 1st, 1873. The Society's committee for the installation 
consisted of Mr. John Murwin, Deacon Joseph Donaldson and 
Mr. Andrew Wakeman. 

Services of the installation were : invocation and reading of 
the scriptures by Eev. Franklin S. Fitch ; introductory prayer 
by Eev. B. J. Eelyea ; sermon by Eev. James W. Hubbel ; or- 
daining prayer by Eev. Martin Dudley; charge to the pastor by 
Eev. E. E. Eankin, D. D. ; right hand of fellowship by Eev. S. 
J. M. Merwin ; concluding prayer by Eev. Edwin Johnson. 

The years that have been the most fruitful in the ingathering 
of sheaves into the garner of the Lord were the following: 
1726, 31 persons ; 1742,16; 1806,28; 1807,11; 1843,42; 1849, 
17 ; 1857, 12 ; 1868, 60 ; 1875, 14. These were years of revival. 

In the records of Greenfield Church I do not find any mention 



37 

of the election of deacons. But among those who have served 
the church in this important office are the following, namely : 
Deacons John Hyde, Samuel Bradley, Daniel Banks, Samuel 
Wakeman, Moses Diamond, Joseph Bradley, Joseph Hill, 
David Williams, Burr Gilbert, Daniel Bradley, Hull Bradley, 
Wakeman Lyon, Seth Jennings, Wm. B. Moorehouse, John 
Banks, K B. Hill and Joseph Donaldson. The two last are 
the officiating deacons. 

Some of these men, like Deacon Wakeman Lyon, were accus- 
tomed to read a sermon and conduct the public worship of the 
sanctuary when the Church and Society were without a minis- 
ter. These deacons have been evangelical men, who have 
honored their office and held fast to the faith as once delivered 
to the saints. Never will it be known, till the final revelation, 
what they have done for the spiritual welfare of this church 
and people. Though most of them are dead, they speak for the 
good of Zion and the glory of God. 

In respect to the Greenfield Sunday School, I find no records, 
but the school was first organized near the close of the minis- 
try of Mr. Belden, and was under his superintendence ; after 
him Mrs. Eunice Wakeman, wife of Abel Wakeman, then 
their son, Abel Wakeman, had much to do in the care and 
superintendence of the Sunday school. After them Eev. Mr. 
Dey and his wife had the superintendence of the school. 

Among the superintendents since have been Governor Gideon 
Tomlinsou, Eev. John Freeman, Dr. Oliver Bronson, Deacon 
Seth Jennings, Deacon John Banks, superintendent for seven- 
teen years; Deacon K. B. Hill, for six years; JMr. N. W^. Ogden, 
for five years; Mr. D wight Banks is superintendent the present 
year. Under the wise superintendence of such men, the Sab- 
bath School has flourished and been a nursery of piety to the 
Church. 

On this account the members of Christ's spiritual household 
here, " should nourish and cherish it, even as the Lord the 
Church." 

On I^fovember 28th, 1809, a Mission Sunday School was 
organized in Fairfield W^oods, and Deacon Joseph Donaldson 
was chosen superintendent. For three years the Mission Sun. 
day School was held in a private house. But in the summer 
of 1872 a chapel, now called Hope Chapel, was built by contri- 
butions of the members of Fairfield and Greenfield churches. 



38 

and dedicated December lOtli, 1872 — E^v. Dr. Eaukiu perform- 
ing the dedication services. The Mission Sunday School com- 
menced with thirteen scholars and five teachers, and has i^ros- 
X^ered so much under Deacon Donaldson and the associate 
teachers, that the school had an average membership of fifty 
j)ersous the last year. 

If my limits would allow and time permit, I might speak of 
some of Greenfield's most distinguished citizens ; of Gideon 
Tomlinson, Esq., who was nine years member of the United 
States House of Eepresentatives, six years member of the 
United States Senate, and four years Governor of Connecticut, 
and all these offices he honored. Also I might speak of Walter 
Bradley, Esq., who was an influential citizen and United States 
custom house officer for several years and had his office on 
Greenfield Hill. I might speak of Judge David Hill, who was 
educated for the gospel ministry, but chose to be a citizen and 
a leading and influential man of the parish and town, where he 
held important offices and exerted a controlling influence. I 
might speak of Capt. Abram D. Baldwin, who was a graduate 
of Yale College, high sheriff" of Fairfield County, and a most 
worthy, influential and honorable man. I might speak of Dr. 
Eufus Blakeman, who was a most useful physician and Judge 
of Probate Coiu-t for many years in Eairfield. 

I might siDeak of Ephraim ISTichols as a soldier of the American 
Eevolution, who aided by his patriotism in securing the freedom 
and independence of the United States, and died in Greenfield 
at the advanced age of ninety-five years. Also I might speak 
of his son, the Eev. Samuel Nichols, who graduated at Yale 
College, and was for many years the successful rector of St. 
Matthew's Church, Bedford, IST. Y., from whence he returned to 
his native town, where he lives in a happy and ripe old age, 
being, with one exception, the oldest man in the parish. 

The oldest man in Greenfield is Mr. Samuel Wilson (gun- 
smith as he has been called), being ninety-two years old, and 
the only person I can find who remembers seeing and hearing 
Dr. D wight preach. 

If time would allow I could speak of Hon. Abram Baldwin, 
who was a most distinguished lawyer, and chosen, on account of 
his great learning and ability. Senator of the United States 
from Connecticut. The following inscription I find on his 
tombstone in the graveyard on Greenfield Hill : " Abram Bald- 



39 

win lies buried at Washington. His memory needs no marble. 
His country is his monument, her Constitution his greatest 
work." He helped to form the Constitution of the United 
States, and died while Senator, on the 4th of March, 1807, 
' aged fifty-two years. 

But time will not allow me to enumerate anymore of the 
honorable men of Greenfield. Still I must mention the names 
of those who have served as clerks of the Society and furnished 
most of the important facts in this historical discourse ; such men 
as Thomas Hill, Moses Diamond, Jr. ; Gershom Banks, Samuel 
Bradley, Jr. ; Hezekiah Bradley, Aaron B. Bradley, Gershom 
Wakeman, Moses G. Betts, Samuel Betts, T. M. Banks, Wm. 
Bradley and Joseph Betts. I must also mention some of the 
many men in the learned professions who have been phy- 
sicians, lawyers, and ministers of the gospel. The following 
physicians have been citizens of Greenfield : Dr. John Hyde, 
Elijihalet Hull, David Eogers, Aaron B. Bradley, Daniel 
Wiggins, Hosea Hulbert, Wm. B. Nash, John B. Paterson, 
Geo. Dyer, Eufus Blakeman, James B. Kissam and Martin V. 
Dunham. The following were natives of Greenfield, who be- 
came physicians and practised in various i^laces : Doctors 
Thomas Bradley, Wm. Wheeler, Ebenezer B. Belden, Nathan 
Bulkley, John Nichols, David Nash, Nathaniel H. Freeman, 
Geo. B. Banks, Moses Wakeman, Eansom Lyon, Wm. R. Blake- 
man, Nathan Wheeler and George Nichols. 

Of the lawyers who have been citizens or natives of Green- 
field we might mention Hon. John Banks, Jehu Burr, Gideon 
Tomlinson, Abram Baldwin, Thos. B. Wakeman, Daniel Wake- 
man, Burr Wakeman, Thomas B. Osborn, Thomas Eobinson, 
Geo. B. Kissam, Geo. B. Murray, Effingham H. Nichols, John 
H. Bradley, Abram Wakeman, Edward B. Sturges and Frank 
C. Sturges. 

Of those who have been natives of Greenfield and clergymen 
we can name Revs. Aaron Burr, D. D. ; Jonathan Law Pome- 
roy, Sereno Edwards Dwight, D. D., President of Hamilton 
College ; Wm. Theodore Dwight, D. D. ; Daniel Banks, Samuel 
Nichols, David F. Banks, Geo. W, Nichols, Geo. W. Banks and 
Marcus Burr. 

Most of these men in the learned isrofessions of medicine, 
law and divinity, were graduates of colleges, and a large num- 
ber of Yale College, who have honored that institution of learn- 
ing, as well as the place that gave them birth. 



40 

We have uo^v given 5011 a brief bistorical compeudiuin of 
events pertaiuiug to the Church and Society for the past 150 
years, but have not time to alhide to the churches of our own 
and other denominations that have been organized within the 
limits of the original town of Fairfield. The Fairfield Church 
was organized in 1G50 ; Green's Farms Church, 1715 ; Trinity 
Church, Fairfield, 1725 : Baptist Church, Strafield, 1757 : 
Northfield Church, Weston, 1757 ; Easton Cong. Church, 1763 ; 
Westport Cong. Church, 1832 ; Southport Cong. Church, 1843 : 
Black Eock Church, 1849; Methodist Church, Flat Rock, 
Easton, 1789 ; the West street Methodist Church, Easton, 
December 12th, 1843 ; Methodist Church, Westport, 1851 ; 
Methodist Church, Southport, 1810. 

But, leaving these, I must close with some brief reflections. 

From the history of Greenfield Church and Society- we should 
learn how much we are indebted to a virtuous and God-fearing 
ancestry. They were of the good old Puritan stock, and planted 
deep in the soil of New England our intellectual, social and re- 
ligious institutions. Our Church i)rivileges, our schools of 
learning, our good government, our material advancement, our 
growth in arts and sciences as well as our happy homes, are 
the inheritance received from our ancestors. 

In view of what they did for us and our children, we should 
keep them in everlasting remembrance. 

I have felt this as I have conversed with the few intelligent 
and aged fathers and mothers who have told me of what Aour 
noble ancestors did in their day and generation. Surely we 
ought to venerate the names and the characters of those who 
have done great things for us Avhereof we are glad, and for 
whom we should praise the Lord. 

Again, from the history of Greenfield Church we learn of 
God's preserving care and of his faithfulness to his people. 
Though in the past 150 years this church has passed through 
great changes, trials and tribulations, yet Zion lives here, be- 
cause she is engraved upon the palm of God's hand, and her 
walls are ever before him. 

When the prophets, the ofiflce bearers, the fathers and moth- 
ers in Israel have put off their mortal armor and gone home to 
their reward, the Great Head of the Church has raised up others 
to fill their places, and to lab or and pray for the spiritual wel- 
fare of Zion and for the salvation of the people. In the exist- 



41 

ence, growth and present prosperity of the church do we not 
behokl God's faithfulness, and his preserving care to his cove- 
nanted chiklren from the beginning until now ? 

Finally, should we not, as members of this church of Christ, 
be aroused, in view of the inheritance we have received from 
our fathers, to do with our might the work to which we are 
called? Should not the past generation who have dwelt on 
these hill and in these vales, who have done so much for their 
country and church, arouse us to heroic and godlike action for 
the good of man and the glory of God ? Surely the past gene- 
ration of your noble ancestors, your own fathers and mothers, 
grandfathers and grandmothers, do rise up to-day and address 
you in an audible language and call upon you in the name of 
your Lord and Master, and urge yon, from a regard to them, 
and to your temjioral and eternal welfare, to live for God and 
for the highest good of the State, the nation and the world. 

Do this, friends and parishioners, and act nobly and worthy 
of the State, the town and the nation that is your birthright ; 
then some future historian, who shall write the historical dis- 
course for the two hundredth anniversary, fifty years hence, 
will have something to tell of your toils, sacrifices and tri- 
umphs in behalf of this church and for the temporal w^elfare 
of this society. Nay, more, beloved ; do your duty, your whole 
duty to God, to the church, to society and to your State and 
country ; then future generations will rise up and call you 
blessed. 

In fine, live for God and for the good of humanity ; then you 
will individually accomplish the chief end of man and pass 
safely through the final ordeal, so that the golden gate of the 
celestial city will swing wide open as you enter triumphantly, 
to be greeted by those who have gone before to the promised 
land. Thus, through a Eedeemer's grace " An entrance shall 
be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting king- 
dom of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ." So may it be, be- 
loved friends, through the grace of our Divine Immanuel, who 
is " the same yesterday, to-day and forever." 



APPENDICES 



Appendix A. 

The facts in this discourse I have chiefly obtained from the- 
Connecticut Archives, from the records of Greenfield Ecclesi- 
astical Society, from the historical discourses of Eev. B. J. 
Eelyea and Kev. Dr. Rankin, and from Ebenezer B. Adams,. 
Esq., and others. 

Appendix B. 

The following j)ersons were summoned May 24th, 1776 : 



Lieut. Ebenezer Banks, Jr., 
Ger shorn Banks, Jr., 
Samuel Smith, 
Daniel Gershom, 
John Sherwood, Jr., 
Elisha Alvord, 
John Murwin, Jr., 



John Perry, 
Moses Hill, 
Mordecai Murwin, 
Eliphalet Banks, 
David Banks, Jr., 
Ephraim Xichols, Jr., 
Josiah Beardsley. 



3Iay 2Qth, 177G. 



Lieut. Lewis Goodsell, 
Constable David Down, 
Joseph Banks, 
Benjamin Smith, Jr., 
John Hubbel, Jr., 
John Down, 



ISTethemiah Gray, 
Burr Jennings, 
Jesse Gould, 
Nathan Gould, Jr., 
Jesse Burr, 
Xehemiah Banks, Jr., 



Ezekiel Oysterbanks. 
And so men were summoned, from night to night, as the 
record shows. 



Appendix C. 



Thomas Hill, 
John Bartram, 
David Williams, 
Benjamin Gibbard, 
John Burr, 
Stephen Burr, 
Benjamin Franklin, 
Joseph Darling, 



John Bradley, 
Joseph Barlow, 
Joseph Bradley, 
Samuel Wackman, 
Joseph Wheler, 
Ebenezer Lion, 
Ignatius Xickeuls, 
William Hill, 



43 



Obadiah Gilburd, 
Joseph Eowlaud, 
Francis Bradley, 
George Hall, 
Samuel Lyon, 
John Lion, 
Samuel Lion, 
Moses Dimon, 
John Gibbard, 
Samuel Whitlock, 
Samuel Bradley, 
Jacob Gray, 
Samuel Thorp, 
John Smith, 
John Smith, 
John Smith, 
Benjamin Lion, 
Samuel Davis, 
Thomas Harvey, 
Joseph Osband, 
Benjamin Darling, 
Thomas Turney, 
Daniel Adams, 
Elijah Crain, 
Ebenezer Hull, 
Abraham Adams, 
Daniel Burr, 



Joseph Burr, 
Peter Burr, 
Daniel Burr, 
Misemus Gold, 
Josiah Gilbert, 
Benjamin Sherwood, 
Benjamin Sherwood, 
Joseph Sherwood, 
Joseph Ogden, 
Xathaniel Hull, 
William Mallory, 
Daniel Williams, 
Daniel Bulkly, 
Benjamin Banks, 
Daniel Bradley, 
Peter Sturges, 
Peter Smith, 
Israel Eoulau, 
Theophilus Hull, 
Moses Ward, 
John Green, 
John Thorj>, 
John Hull, 
Cornelius Hull, 
Joseph Banks, 
Jonathan Malory, 
John Hide. 



Appendix D. 

£ s. 

Gershom Banks had pew No. 1 for 14 15 

Samuel Bradley, No. 2 16 10 

Obediah Hall, No. 3 20 7 

Daniel Sherwood, No. 4 12 2 

Joseph Hill, No. 5 20 7 

Cornelius Hull, No. 6 17 3 

Daniel Sturges, No. 7 10 

Moses Wakeman, No . 8 15 

David Bradley, No. 9 24 

Gershom Hubbel, No. 10 26 12 

Gershom Bulkley, No. 11 23 15 

Jonathan Diamond, No . 12 23 1 

John Jennings (2), No. 13 20 7 

Gershom Bradley, No. 14 20 3 

Reserved for Society, No. 15 

Nehemiah Banks, No. 16 24 

Ebenezer Banks, No. 17 20 10 

Joseph Bradley, Jr., No. 18 27 



44 

£ s. 

Joliii Banks, Xo. 19 17 

Samuel Whitney, Xo. 20 15 4 

David Williams, is^o. 21 15 

Benjamin Sherwood, Xo. 22 17 14 

Hezekiah Bradlej, Xo. 23 12 11 

Samuel Bradley, 'jr., No. 24 23 1 

David Banks, :N'o. 25 20 5 

Daniel Bradley, Xo. 26 12 5 



Appendix E. 

Hear what Eev. Dr. Edwards says in praise of your fore- 
fathers. " Men, brethren and fathers, we congratulate you on 
the events of this day. You are now to have a minister set over 
you in the order of the gospel. We congratulate you on your 
general and firm union in this aifair ; on your apparent just 
sense of the worth and importance of the stated ministration of 
the divine word and ordinances among you ; on your readiness 
to support the ministry, and your willingness to spend of your 
worldly substance for this end. By your former punctuality in 
fulfilling your ministerial contracts, it appears you are not only 
forward to say but also to do. It is common for the preacher 
on such occasions as the present to press the duty of support- 
ing the ministry ; but your liberal engagements in the present 
instance, and your former punctuality in fulfilling your minis- 
terial engagements, forbid me to say a word on that head. 
Only pursue the same line of conduct which you have hitherto 
pursued, and you will acquire honor to yourselves, will be ex- 
amples to others, and will put it out of the power of your minis- 
ter to plead necessity for applying himself to secular business, 
in the neglect of his ministerial work." 



Appendix F. 

" The Committee presented the votes of the Society, signify- 
ing their unwillingness that the pastoral relation between Dr. 
Dwight and them should be dissolved. But Consociation hav- 
ing taken into serious consideration the importance of the call 
of Dr. Dwight to the presidency of Yale College, and maturely 
weighed the circumstances, are of the opinion that his election 
is a sufficient reason for him to desire a separation from his 
people, and that it is their duty to consent to it. And having 
made this declaration, we now think it proper that Dr. Dwight 
should declare what are his views of duty in the case. Dr. 
Dwight appeared and declared that he conceived it to be his 
duty to accept of his appointment. Whereupon (the Committee 
of the Society' declining to make any further opposition to Dr. 



45 

Dwiglit's dismission aucl withdrawing') the Council proceeded 
to the following" vote : ' That Dr. Dwight be dismissed from bis 
pastoral charge of the Church and Society of Greenfield, and 
he is hereby accordingly dismissed. When the Consociation 
reflect upon the great harmony and union which has ever sub- 
sisted between Dr. Dwight and the Church and Society of 
Greenfield, from his first settlement among them as their min- 
ister, it is with great pain that they have dissolved a relation 
cemented by so many years of love and usefulness. But view- 
ing the office of President of an University as one of the most 
important to the interests of society and religion, principles of 
benevolence which dictate that a less good should give way to 
a greater, constrained the Consociation to think it the duty of 
Dr. Dwight and his people, however dear to each other, to con- 
sent to a separation ; wishing them both grace, mercy and 
peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is 
the sincere prayer of the Consociation that the Church and 
Society of Greenfield may be kept in the same union that hath 
hitherto prevailed among them, and soon resettle again in the 
order of the gospel an able and accejitable minister ; and that 
Dr. Dwight may be made an extensive blessing to society, in 
training up youth for Church and State. 

" ' The above and foregoing voted as the doings of this 
Council. 

'' ' Test, JOHN NOTES, Scribe. 

" ' Greenfield, August 11th, 1795.'" 



Appendix G. 

Invitation given to Eev. Samuel Blatchford, D. D. " At a 
parish meeting April 1st, 1796, voted to hir6 Mr. Blatchford 
for one year. Voted to give him one hundred and sixty pounds 
for his services the said year. Voted AValter Bradley, Esq., 
Daniel Rogers, Elisha and Samuel Bradley, Esq., to make the 
proposals to Mr. Blatchford. Voted to give $20 to defray the 
charge of moving Mr. Blatchford to Greenfield. 

HEZEKIAH BRADLEY, 

Parish Clerk.^^ 



A DISCOURSE 



IN COJIMEJIOEATION OF 



Rev. Timothy D wight, D. D., LL. D., 

(Fourth Pcistor of the Church at Greenjield Hill, and afterivards President of Yale CoUegt. 

BY TIMOTHY DWIGHT, 



PROrESSOB IN YALE THEOLOGICAL SEMINAKY. 



On the 19th of May, 1783, the people of this parish, by a 
unanimous vote, extended au invitation to a young man resid- 
ing in Northampton, Mass., to become their pastor. According 
to the custom of the period, he had preached here for a number 
of Sabbaths, and had spent so much time with the people as to 
give them sufficient knowledge of his character and gifts. 
They had, doubtless, heard favorably of him, also, from the col- 
lege where he had been employed as a tutor for six years, and 
where he had gained many friends and a high reputation. 
They looked forward, in all probability, in case of his accept- 
ance of their call, to a long-continued ministry on his part 
among them, and to his living and dying in their community. 
We can realize something of the hopes and fears with which 
they awaited his decision, for, in these days as well as those, 
the people of a parish are always thus deeply interested when 
they are brought to a hearty unanimity in the choice of a min- 
ister. He gave them his answer, which was a favorable one, 
on the 20th of July following. The letter containing his reply 
is found in the records of the church, and is in these words : 
" I have considered the unanimous invitation given me by the 
church and congregation of Greenfield to settle with them in 
the gospel ministry, and the i)roposal they have made me for 
my support in that office. In answer to this invitation, I beg 
leave to observe that the unanimity and friendliness of the call 
are so agreeable, and the proposals so handsome, that I esteem 



47 

it my duty to accept of them, and do hereby give my cheerful 
consent to settle with this church and people on the plan and 
according to the principles I have uniformly delivered to you, 
particularly in two sermous, the one from Acts, xx. 26th and 
27th, and the other from the first to the Corinthians, vii. 14th,* 
and I desire your constant prayers to Almighty God that I may 
be a blessing to you." On the 5th of November in the same 
year he was ordained, the Consociation of the neighboring 
churches taking part in the work, and giving him the right 
hand of fellowship. The circumstances leading to the estab- 
lishment of this pastoral relation, and the solemn service which 
inaugurated it, were similar to those which had often occurred 
before that time, and have been often repeated since in the 
towns of New England. But the minister, who on this day 
began here the real work of his life, was destined to be one of 
the leading men of his age, and to be remembered in after times 
for his power and influence. And for this reason it is that on 
this occasion, when we are met to celebrate the comj)letion of a 
century and a half of the history of this church, it has been 
regarded as fitting that this one of the long line of its pastors 
should be specially commemorated. 

The young man of whom I have spoken was Timothy Dwight. 
Born in the year 1752, he was now 31 years of age. He had 
graduated at Yale College with high honor fourteen years be- 
fore, in 1769, and after teaching, during the interval, in the 
grammar school in New Haveu, had been appointed tutor in 
the college in 1771. Here he continued until 1777. On the 
3d of March, in this last named year, he was married at the 
house of Pierrepont Edwards, Esq., of New Haven, to Miss 
Mary Woolsey, daughter of Benjamin Woolsey, of Dosoris, 
L. I., and on the 4th of September following he was commis- 
sioned as a chaplain in the army of the Eevolution. He re- 
mained in this office until March, 1779, when, in consequence of 
the tidings of his father's death in a remote part of the country, 
he offered his resignation, and returned to his home in North- 
ampton to aid his mother, who had been left with limited means 

* Acts XX. 26, 21. — "Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure 
from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the coun- 
sel of God." 1st Corinthians, vii. 14. — "For the unbelieving husband is sanctified 
by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband : else were 
your children unclean, but now are they holy." 



48 

and with a large family of children, of whom he was the eldest. 
While residing- in Northampton he had almost constantly sup- 
plied vacant pulpits in the neighborhood, and both in this way 
and through his duties as a chaplain, he had already had con- 
siderable experience as a preacher. He had, indeed, been in- 
vited to take the pastoral office in Oharlestown and in Beverly^ 
Mass., and, in connection with the latter of the two invitations, 
it is said that he was promised a professorship in Harvard Col- 
lege. But, in consequence of the importance of his presence and 
assistance at home, he had declined these offers. The call from 
this parish came at a time when he could more easily be spared,, 
and accordingly, having decided to accept it, he came here with 
his family, consisting at that time of his wife and two young-^ 
children, to enter upon his first, and, as it afterwards proved t 
his only pastorate. 

The date of his installation was two mouths after the final 
and definitive treaty of i)eace was signed, by which the inde- 
pendence of the United States was acknowledged by Great 
Britain, and two years after the last great battle of the Eevo- 
lutionary war. Only four years before, the adjoining villages of 
Fairfield and Green's Farms had been burned by the British 
troops, and even now they had scarcely recovered their old 
state after this devastation. This parish had a population 
of 1,000 or 1,100 souls, scattered over a tract of country of 
about fifteen square miles in extent, with a small central vil- 
lage of some fifteen houses in the immediate neighborhood of 
the church. It was, as he describes it himself, one of the small- 
est parishes in Connecticut in territorial extent, but, consider- 
ing this fact, one of the most populous. The peoiDle were al- 
most exclusively farmers. Possessed of an excellent soil and in 
the midst of delightful scenery, they passed their lives in the 
simple, yet honorable way which characterized our ]S^ew Eng- 
land fathers. We can easily picture to ourselves the intelligent 
and godly people as they assembled on that November day in 
their plain meeting house, which many of the older persons in 
this audience will remember, to welcome their new pastor to hi& 
new office. 

The sermon delivered on the occasion was by the Eev. Dr. 
Jonathan Edwards, of the Whitehaven Church in New Haven, 
an uncle of the pastor elect, and the second son of the cele- 
brated President Edwards. Its subject was, " The Manifesta- 



49 

tiou of the Truth the Eud of Preaching." It was based upon 
the text fouud in Second Corinthians, iv. 2*. Few in this audi- 
ence, probably, would be interested in a perusal of this ser- 
mon, but in the portion of it which contains the more special 
address to the iDastor, occurs a passage which shows the char- 
acter both of the speaker and of him to whom the words were 
spoken. In urging upon the new pastor the duty of being 
faithful in his researches after truth, the preacher said : " Im- 
provement is by no means at an end ; and those men err ex- 
ceedingly who lament that they live in this late period of the 
world, wherein improvement and science have been anticipated, 
and there is no room left for further discoveries. There is 
abundant room for discovery and improvement in every science, 
and especially in theology." When we remember that this in- 
stallation service took place not only before the first steamboat 
floated on the waters of the Hudson, but before the idea even 
of propelling vessels by steam had occurred to Fitch or to 
Fulton ; when we remember that it was after the lifetime both 
of the preacher and of the young pastor had ended, that the 
first railway was constructed, and Avithin the lifetime of their 
grandchildren that the electric telegraph was invented ; when 
we remember that the wonderful development of modern 
science in our land, in all its branches, had its beginning years 
later than this, we cannot but smile at the thought of those who 
were bewailing the fact of their li\ing only after all that was 
to be discovered had already been made known. If those 
worthy individuals could but return for the day, and come with 
us who have come from other towns and cities to this place this 
morning, and if they could go with us as we return to our 
homes, and see the things which they never dreamed of having 
become the familiar and essential accompaniments of our daily 
life, how strange would their old lamentations appear ! If those 
among them who lived on Greenfield Hill could stand here 
again, and, while they were looking out upon the same beauti- 
ful prospect with which they were once familiar, could know the 
altered mode of life and the thousand iieculiar comforts of these 
modern days, they would, indeed, feel that the old world had 
entered into a new existence. But these two men — the elder 

* 2d Cor. iv. 2. " But having renounced the hidden things of dishonesty ; not walk- 
ing in craftiness nor haudUng the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of 
the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." 

4 



50 

and the younger alike — were not among this number. They 
believed in the future. They hoped for and prophesied a better 
and larger and higher life for their children's children than 
tliey knew themselves. And even in theology — while they did 
not doubt that the truth of God was ever the same — they 
believed that devout and earnest men would be continually 
making new discoveries, and would be bringing their human 
statements nearer and nearer to the divine standard. 

The people of this parish are to be commended for the pro- 
vision which they made for the support of the new jmstor and 
his family, for, though the sum may seem small in these days — 
$500, together with a parish lot of six acres and twenty cords 
of wood annually (there being a provision of $1,000 for " settle- 
ment," as it was called) — the salary is said to have been the 
largest given in the State at that time. Indeed, more than 
thirty years afterwards, when writing of the condition of the 
ministry in this respect, at a time when the price of all the 
means of subsistence had been doubled, this pastor himself 
says : " The average salary of ministers in Connecticut, inclu- 
ding all the perquisites annexed to it, does not, I believe, ex- 
ceed four hundred dollars. There are, perhaps, from six to ten 
within two hundred and fifty dollars. I know of but one which 
amounts to eleven hundred dollars." Doubtless the salary- 
was made as large as possible, because the reputation of the 
young man whom they called was already so high, and the 
prospects for his future were so flattering. But the people, if 
they liad not been of liberal minds and in perfect harmony 
both with one another and with him, would not have surpassed 
in their pecuniary offers even the churches of larger and more 
central towns. 

With such unanimity and such jirovision for his support on 
the part of the parish, Mr. Dwight began his work here. He 
had now fully entered on the profession to which he had conse- 
crated his life, and for which he had given up all the attrac- 
tions of the practice of law and of the political sphere, thougli 
these were very great in his case, and though many of his 
friends, who saw a brilliant career before him if he did so, had 
urged him strongly to yield to their influence. The life of a 
village pastor, at all times, is one without much of incident that 
is interesting to the world at large or to the generations that fol- 
low. Useful, and bearing in its work upon tke Christian life of 



51 

many souls, it is hidden from the public gaze, and when we try 
to trace out its history, we find that the memory of its facts has 
paEssed away with the period to which it belonged. For some 
reason — probably because of the scantiness of the records which 
he made, owing to the permanent weakness of his eyes — the 
recorded incidents of this pastor's career in this place are unu- 
sually few in number. We know, however, that in the course 
of the years which he spent in Greenfield, he conceived the 
plan of that system of theology which he afterwards carried out 
in his ministry in Yale College, and that he preached the 
greater part if not all of these discourses, in their earliest form, 
to the people here. They were delivered from brief notes, his 
custom being not to speak from a carefully written manuscript, 
but only from a few leading thoughts committed to paper, and 
with a reliance upon the inspiration of the hour for the language 
which he should employ. According to the record of an aged 
person connected with this church, who died a few years since, 
these sermons or lectures were given on Wednesday evenings ; 
but if they were, our fathers must have been more ready for 
instruction in doctrinal theology, in their weekly meetings, than 
their descendants are. In those days, however, theological dis- 
cussion was very widesjiread in the community. The New Eng- 
land mind, we may say, became what it was because all men, 
high and low, thought both on politics and theology — the two 
subjects of deepest interest connected with the problems of this 
life and the life to come. 

It is stated that Mr. Dwight prepared and preached nearly 
one thousand sermons during the period of his settlement here ; 
but among them these were the ones that in their subsequent 
and more perfect form were destined to give him his extended 
fame. Few churches certainly, even in the larger cities of the 
country, had the opportunity to listen to such eloquent and 
powerful presentations of the gospel truths as those which were 
heard from the pulpit of this church during the twelve years 
of that pastorate. " The people of the neighboring towns," it 
is said, " often resorted to Greenfield to hear his discourses ; and 
an intimation that he was to preach in any particular place 
rarely failed to attract a full audience." We know, also, that 
as a Christian teacher he built up the church both in graces 
and in numbers, keeping them in the happy harmony which 
had been so conspicuous as they received him at the first, until 



52 

the very latest period of his residence with them, and gathering 
into the fellowship of believers a goodly company, whose reli- 
gious life was first awakened by his influence. We know, still 
further, that he gave a new character and life to the village. 
By reason of his wide and continually widening acquaintance 
with literary and distinguished men, and his abounding hosi)i- 
tality, Greenfield became, as one of his sons has said, " the re- 
sort of learning, of talents, of refinement and of i3iety." " His 
doors were ever open," says the same person, " to welcome the 
stranger as well as the friend ;" and he adds, " we believe the 
instances to be rare in which a single individual has been the 
centre of such extensive attraction to men of superior character, 
or so entirely altered the aspect of society around him." It is 
not strange, then, that the people here were proud of having 
him among them, and felt honored by the presence of a man 
whose fame — which, as they saw, must constantly grow 
greater — would draw the thoughts of many in distant regions 
to the ijlace where he lived. The charm of his society and 
conversation, also — the memory of which has come to our own 
days through the testimony of all who knew him — must 
have rendered life in this beautiful village a richer and more 
beautiful thing than it had ever been before. Every man and 
woman— every child, even — must have delighted in meeting 
him, for, with an extraordinary faculty of entering into the ex- 
perience and i^ursuits of all classes and ages, he had always the 
kindliest and most instructive word to suit the wants of all. 
Awake to everything that was true and good, he was beyond 
all question here, as, indeed, he was everywhere, a power in 
the community which every one was glad to recognize and 
quick to feel. 

A prominent thing in his history here, and, at the same time, 
a thing which affected and influenced the parish greatly, was 
the school which he established soon after the beginning of his 
pastorate. Ever since the years in which, with very marked 
success, he had held the tutorship in Yale College, his thoughts 
and interests had centered largely in the work of teaching. In 
Northami^tou, after retiring from the army, he had carried on a 
day school in addition to his other occupations, in which he was 
assisted by Joel Barlow, who was afterwards the distinguished 
politician, and who was already gaining some reputation as a 
poet. We may suppose, therefore, that it was in consequence 



53 

of his love for the work of teaching, as well as in order to in- 
crease his means of support, that he early established here 
the school which soon became so celebrated throughout the 
country. It is stated that more than a thousand pupils were 
educated in this school. They came from all parts of the land, 
and some of them, in later years, attained high stations in ci^il 
life. Among these were Henry Baldwin, who was one of the 
Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, and Joel 
E. Poinsett of South Carolina, who became Secretary of War 
during the administration of President Van Buren. It is to be 
regretted that no complete list of these pupils has been pre- 
served, but enough is known to make it manifest that a quicken- 
ing life was infused into the village by the existence of the 
school and the ingathering here of so manj- intelligent young 
people. Nor should we fail to state that the school was de- 
signed for both sexes, and that, at one time at least, it was de- 
clared — no doubt with great confidence that no one in any other 
place would venture to contradict the statement or maintain 
the opposite — that Dr. Dwight's class of young ladies included 
the most beautiful ever assembled in a class together. Among 
these were three daughters of Mrs. Burr, of Fairfield, worthy 
daughters of a mother whom Dr. D wight himself describes as 
" adorned with all the qualities which give distinction to her 
sex, and as possessing fine accomplishments and a dignity of 
character scarcely rivalled." When we think of these young- 
men and maidens rambling and playing in company, and talk- 
ing together of the joyous and hopeful things of life, we cannot 
be surprised that the record of the aged member of this church, 
to which I have already referred, should saj', in view of it all, 
" Those were lively times in Greenfield." He was, perchance, 
recalling in his extreme old age, with something of fond regret, 
the delightful memories of the far distant days of his own 
youth, and thinking, as we all do, when the years are bearing 
us onward towards the end, of the brave hearts and beautiful 
souls that we once knew and loved, while they and we were 
alike full of our early enthusiasm. Certain it is that the 
presence of such a company, representing the best families in 
the land, and sent hither for instruction and discipline prepara- 
tory to their future life, must have changed the character of 
the place in no ordinary degree. From a quiet parish, with the 
stillness of the farmer's work, it became full of merry voices and 



54 

heattlifiil with tlie inflaeuces of Mgher educatioa. The school 
was not limited in its aim and plan to the studies introductory 
to the collegiate course, but young men came even from the 
classes in Tale College, and placed themselves voluntarily 
under the charge of so eminent a teacher. 

It is especially noticeable that Dr. D wight enlarged the 
sphere of instruction for his female pupils, introducing them to 
the kno'^'ledge of higher branches in literature and learning 
than had been opened to them in the earlier history of the 
country. He believed in the nobleness of women, not only as 
moral but as intellectual beings. He devoted himself to their 
higher cultivation with as much ardor and energy as he ever 
gave to that of young men. It is not the least of the glories of 
his life that he was a leader in this work, and was in advance 
of his age in regard to it as truly as he was in any sphere of his 
efforts. He greatly enjoyed the society of refined and intelli- 
gent women, respecting and honoring them for what they were, 
and, with readiness and gladness, he contributed from the rich 
stores of his own learning and thought to make their daughters 
still more intelligent and refined than themselves. 

So he labored, and such was the result which he accom- 
plished in this place. But it was not possible that such a man 
should be limited in his power and influence to his own imme- 
diate field of labor. He rapidly became one of the most i3rom- 
inent among the ministers of the State, and was knoAvn and re- 
spected by the clergy of other States and other denominations. 
In the year 1787 he was honored with the degree of Doctor of 
Divinity by the College of J^Tew Jersey, at Princeton. This 
mark of distinction was less common and of greater A^alue at 
that period than it is in these more recent times. In his case it 
was bestowed at an unusually early age, for he had only entered 
upon his thirty-sixth year. The record of his history, however, 
shows us, in all its parts, that he had not only become more 
widely known, but had accomi^lished greater results, before he 
reached the middle point of human life, than even men of ability 
and eminence often do. I may add here, in passing, that a 
number of years afterwards he received the degree of Doctor 
of Laws from Harvard College, and that thus he was recognized 
as worthy of special distinction by the two leading institutions 
of learning in the country, besides the one where he had been 
educated. 



55 

By reason of the promineuce which he had gahied he was 
very influential in the religious and ecclesiastical movements of 
the day. One amoug these, in which he had a leading part 
while he was still residing here, was the union of the Presby- 
terian and Congregational churches according to a plan by which 
the Western States were left open to the former body alone. 
Without entering on the discussion of this subject here, and 
without meaning to assert that he could certainly have foreseen 
what followed in the succeeding half or three quarters of a cen- 
tury, I may be permitted to imj that, in my judgment, his posi- 
tion in this matter was a mistaken one, and that the plan which 
he favored was a plan by which the grand principles of Congre- 
gational freedom were wholly surrendered to a centralized 
ecclesiastical organization everywhere outside of the narrow 
limits of Xew England. The children and grandchildren have 
been wiser than the fathers were in this regard, and the council 
of 1852, whose presiding officer, it may be remarked, was his 
own son, D;r. Wrn. T. Dwight, finally placed Congregationalism 
at the West on the same firm foundation which Presbyterianism 
had gained so long before. 

During his life in Greenfield Dr. Dwight published both of 
the two longer poems which are known as connected with his 
name. One of them was written here. The " Conquest of 
Canaan" had been originally composed before he was twenty- 
three years of age, having been begun even when he was only 
nineteen. According to the statement of his son, in his biogra- 
phy, "proposals for printing this poem were issued in 1775, and 
upwards of 3,000 subscribers procured ; but the circumstances 
of the country, just then commencing the war of Independence, 
which lasted till 1783, postponed its i^ublication." It was finally 
IDrinted in 1785. Possibly the date of its appearance before the 
public has given the impression that this poem was a work of 
his maturer life, and as such has subjected it to criticism. Dr. 
Dwight was not a poet of a high order, certainly — perhaps, as 
some one has said, "he was only almost a poet, but not quite." 
But we must not forget that he and his contemporaries are not 
to be judged by the standard of to-day. When we remember 
that poetry had scarcely seen its earliest beginnings in this 
country at that time, and that the poems of Percival, who wrote 
more than forty years afterwards, are clearly not to be meas- 
ured with the works of our own age; when we remember, also, 



56 

that everything in that day was so largely under the demoral- 
izing influence of the style of Pope, and that modern freedom 
and individuality were quite unknown ; and when we remem- 
ber that D wight and his companions wrote in their early years, 
I think they may fairlj' be regarded as worthy of their due 
measure of praise for what they attempted and achieved. It is 
almost as idle and unreasonable to pronounce upon them a con- 
(lemnatory judgment, because they did not reach the standard 
of to-day, as it would be to criticise the fathers of modern 
science in this country, who did so great a work for their own 
time, in comparison with those who are in possession of all the 
knowledge and discoveries of these recent years. What was 
the literature in prose in our nation one hundred years ago, and 
how long is it since our English cousins were first compelled to 
acknowledge that a book in general literature, worthy of their 
reading, had been written in America 1 

The other principal i)oem, to which reference has been made, 
is entitled " Greenfield Hill." It was written mainly in 1787, 
and, as its author says, '' was begun with no design of publish- 
ing it, but with the aim merely to amuse his own mind and to 
gain a temporary relief from the pressure of melancholy." 
Hence it was composed only at intervals, and was laid aside 
'' when other avocations or amusements presented them- 
selves." As its name would indicate, it is founded upon the 
scenery and life of the village where he lived, but it is not so 
closely connected with it as to become in any complete measure 
descriptive of either. There is less of stateliuess, and more of 
freedom and variety in the style and metre, than in the Conquest 
of Canaan, and consequently it is more interesting to a reader 
at the present time. The idea of the poem was, probably, 
founded upon that of Goldsmith's Deserted Village. The original 
design was to imitate the style of different British poets, though 
this design was not fully carried into execution. It does not 
become this occasion, nor indeed does the time permit, that I 
should attempt to criticise this poem, or set forth its merits or 
demerits. I would, however, that every minister in our ancient 
Commonwealth had the ability to charm away his melancholy 
hours with poetry- of his own making, that should be even as 
sweet, and as truly inspired by the Muses, as that which this 
book contains. And yet, as one of these ministers, and at the 
same time a descendant of his own, I have to acknowledge that 



57 

— Avliatever may have been Dr. Dwight's claims iu this regard 
for himself — he had not poetry enough in his constitution to 
transmit it either in his own family or to the apostolic succes" 
sion to which he belonged. Though both of his poetical works 
were republished in England, they, neither of them, ever reached 
a second edition in that country or in this, and 1 presume it 
may possibly be the fact that not a single copy of the poem 
called Greenfield Hill can now be found in the parish of Green 
field Hill. 

In the midst of these employments, and surrounded by his 
pupils and his parishioners ; occupying his busier hours with 
earnest labors for the good of others, and his quieter ones with 
the most refining and elevating mental work ; with the tender 
love of an honored wife, and the happy voices of his children, 
four of whom were given to him here, filling his home and his 
heart with delight, he moved on iu his unostentatious yet most 
honorable career for twelve years. The people had come more 
and more fully, as time advanced, to feel that he had created 
for himself a si)here from which he could not well be spared, 
and to believe that he would remain with them always. But, 
doubtless, in his own mind, he had thought of the day as pro- 
bably coming when some wider field, limited by the bounds of 
no single parish, should open to him, and we can scarcely hesi- 
tate to believe that he had known something of the public feel- 
ing which, for some years, had been turning towards him as the 
person who should one day fill the highest office in the College at 
New Haven. Indeed, even as early as 1777, when, at the age of 
twenty-five, he was just closing his service as tutor iu the col- 
lege, the students, it is said, had drawn up a petition that he 
might be made President — a petition which would have been 
presented to the corporation had it not been for his own inter- 
ference. It was natural, therefore, that, as the administration 
of President Stiles was seen to be drawing towards its close, by 
reason of his advancing age. Dr. Dwight should be pointed out 
as the i3robable successor, and that he should himself be cogni- 
zant, in some degree, of this fact. 

When, accordingly, on the 25th of June, 1795, a few weeks 
after the death of Dr. Stiles, the corporation of the college 
assembled and elected him to the presidency, it could not have 
been a great surprise to his own mind. To his ijarishioners, 
however, if not altogether a surprise, it was a grievous disap'- 



58 

pointmeut of their hopes. It cannot be thought strange that 
they earnestly opposed his acceptance of the offered office, and 
that when his own reflection upon the subject led him to call a 
meeting of the consociation of churches to which he belonged, 
to advise him respecting his course, they unanimously voted 
"that the inhabitants of this place are unwilling that he 
should accept of his appointment to the presidency of 
Yale College, and take a dismission from the people of his 
charge." A large committee, consisting of twelve x^ersons, was 
appointed to represent the Church and Society before the conso- 
ciation, and to urge their claims as against those of the college. 
This committee, however, was unsuccessful in its effort, for the 
consociation, Mithout any dissenting voice, advised the dissolu- 
tion of the pastoral relation and the removal of Dr. Dwight to 
the new position. The tradition is, that the people here were 
so outraged in their feelings by this action, that they would 
never consent afterwards to hear any minister, who took iiart in 
this decision, preach in their pulpit. We smile, perhaps, at this 
course of the fathers and grandfathers so many years ago ', but 
we look upon the whole matter with the knowledge of the past 
history, and in the light of to-day, while they saw it only as 
surrounded by the circumstances then present, and without any 
possibility of foreseeing what was to come. 

l!^ew Haven, which has now become a city of sixty thousand 
inhabitants, had, in 1790, only about four hundred more than 
Fairfield. The latter place has continued nearly' as it then was, 
and this parish is but little larger, I supi:)ose, than in the year 
when Dr. Dwight began his ministry here. But how little idea 
of such a change did the men of that day have, or could they 
have had ! The college, also, in 1795, had but one hundred and 
ten students. Though it was of importance to the common- 
wealth, it was a small institution. The consociation, however — 
as we of this era, who look back upon his life so long after its 
ending, clearly see — were in the right, and the people of the 
parish in the wrong. In communicating to the corporation his 
acceptance of the position which thej^ offered him. Dr. Dwight 
used the following language : " Allow me, gentlemen, to say, 
that few undertakings in human life appear to me to be fraught 
with more difficulties than this one on which I am now ventur- 
ing. It is a consolation to reflect that, when faithfully pursued, 
there are not many which are more beneficial to mankind. The 



59 

Most High hath been pleased, in his providence to call me to 
this employment. I feel myself obliged, though not without 
great diffidence, to obey the summons." Who can doubt that 
it was, indeed, the Divine summons, and that his obeying it, as 
he did, was the undertaking of a work most beneficial to man- 
kind I 

The population of this parish, at the time of his resignation 
of the pastorate, i:»robably did not exceed thirteen hundred. The 
graduates of Yale College, during his administration of twenty- 
two years, including the three succeeding classes who came, in 
some measure, under his influence, numbered thirteen hundred 
and one. But these graduates were all men who were destined, 
in the future, to take prominent positions in the larger or smaller 
communities where they should find their homes. Many of 
them were to have a lasting fame and ijower among mankind. 
When we look at such names as Moses Stuart, and Lyman 
Beecher, and Nathaniel W. Taylor, and Eleazar T. Fitch, and 
Chauncey A. Goodrich, and Asahel Nettleton, in the field of 
theology and religious effort ; or at those of John C. Calhoun 
in the sphere of statesmanship, or Samuel F. B. Morse in in- 
vention, or Benjamin Silliman in science, or Thomas H. Gallau- 
det in creating a new life for those to whom speech is denied, 
or James A. Hillhouse, and John Pierpont, and James G. Per- 
cival in poetry, or Alexander H. Stevens and Edward Delafield 
in medicine, or Theodore Strong and Alexander M. Fisher m 
mathematics, or Eoger S. Baldwin and Samuel J. Hitchcock in 
the law, or James L. Kingsley and Ethan A. Andrews in clas- 
sical scholarshij), who of us can begin to measure the effect of 
that influence which a man like Dr. Dwight was able to exert 
upon the world through the stimulating and elevating power 
which he imparted to them ? Each of these thirteen hundred 
graduates would become a means of transmitting his teachings 
and his inspiration to others, and the circle of his life would 
thus be widened to reach the most distant places, and even the 
generations of the future, ^o such power could have been real- 
ized in this church, or in any other church in the commonwealth 
or the country. The people of this parish would, almost all of 
them, have lived and died on the soil here, by the very neces- 
sity of the case ; but among those thirteen hundred graduates 
nearly three hundred became ministers of the gospel, some of 
whom carried its message to remote and heathen lands; nearly 



60 

seventy became presidents or professors in colleges or profes- 
sional schools ; and about one hundred held the offices of high- 
est executive, legislative or judicial trust in the States or the 
nation. And all of these men, to their latest years, bore with 
them, as we have abundant testimony, the grateful recollection 
of what he had done for them, and the impress of his mind and 
character upon their own. However widely they differed 
among themselves, they were all united in their admiration for 
their teacher, so that Tale College became to every one of them 
indissolubly connected with his name. It would, indeed, have 
been a loss of one of the grandest opportunities for a man, and 
of one of the grandest men for an opportunity, which the history 
of the country has ever known, had this eminent teacher re- 
mained in the pastoral charge of any church, and declined the 
invitation which came to him at this critical moment of his life. 
On the 8th of September, 1795, Dr. Dwight was formally in- 
ducted into the office of president, and on the following day he 
began his public duties by presiding at the exercises of the 
college commencement. The college was, at that time, just 
closing the first century of its existence as an institution. It 
was about to enter not only on a new period, but also, in the 
highest and most complete sense, on a new era of its history. 
The trustees had said, in their letter which communicated to 
him his election, " The circumstances of this seminary are such 
as greatly need a president, and require his presence and exer- 
tions in office." But even they had, probably, a very inadequate 
idea of the full significance of their own words. Up to this time 
it had been a daj" of small things. The institution, as we may 
almost say, had been a collegiate school rather than a college. 
The instruction and government had been in the hands of the 
president, in connection with a small body of tutors who re- 
mained in office but two or three years, and consequently had 
no i^ermanent infiuence. Only two professorships had ever 
been established — that of divinity and that of mathematics and 
natural philosophy — and, at this time, the latter alone had an in- 
cumbent. The funds were exceedingly limited. The number of 
students, as we have already seen, was comparatively small. 
The course of instruction included none of the natural sciences 
except astronomy and physics, and even in these branches and 
in the ancient languages the means at command for studying 
them, and the progress made by the students, were, as ^dewed 



61 

from the staudpoiut of later days, iusiguificaut. Professional 
education in separate departments of a university, as vre are 
now familiar with it, had not been provided for and had 
scarcely been thought of. And yet the opening- era was soon 
to call for growth and development in all these directions. 
The man who should be adequate to the emergency must be 
no ordinary man. He must have the clearness of perception 
to see farther than those around him, and the earnestness in 
action which would make him ready for every exigency and 
every work. In the light of the facts and records of the subse- 
quent years, unless I am wholly unable to read them correctly, 
it is clear that such a man was found in President Dwight. 

The presiding officer of a college, according to that arrange- 
ment of things which has been known in almost all institutions 
of this kind in our country, has an intimate connection with its 
instruction, its discipline, its pecuniary interests, and all the 
Ijlans for its im])rovement and growth. This was, of course, 
the fact in Yale College at the close of the last century, in a 
higher degree even than it now is, for then, as we have seen, 
he stood almost alone, so far as any permanent instructors were 
concerned, while to-day he is surrounded by more than fifty 
professors. But no college in any period of its history can 
make continued and healthful progress,, if its president is 
characterized by inefficiency or by a want both of energy and 
wisdom. 

It will be impossible, on the present occasion, to give a com. 
plete history of Dr. Dwight's administration; but no discourse 
relating to his career would be, in any measure, complete with- 
out a reference to some of the things which he accomplished. 

In regard to the plans for the enlargement and progress of 
the institution, he had scarcely assumed his office before he 
entered earnestly and enthusiastically upon the consideration 
of them. It is a fact worthy of notice, that he fixed his thoughts 
upon a young man in the very first senior class which he 
instructed, as a person who might well be called to teach in the 
college the science of chemistry, which was then in its infancy 
in the countrj-— that he urged the corporation to establish a 
professorship in this department as early as 1798 — and that, 
within six years from his accession to office, he had secured the 
necessary endowment for the purpose, and was enabled to place 
the person whom he had chosen in the new position. The large 



62 

minded comprehensiveiiess with _ wliicli, at tliat early day, he 
perceived the importance of this branch of learning, and pro- 
vided for its introduction into the curriculum of study, was only 
equalled by the sagacity with which he saw, at the age of 
twenty, the powers and future x)ossibilities of Benjamin Silli- 
man. In the same year that Mr. Silliman was elected to this 
professorship, measures were instituted for establishing a pro- 
fessorship of the ancient languages, and already in the previous 
year a professor of law had been appointed. Though this last 
named officer was expected to instruct only the undergraduates 
in the general principles of law, there is some reason to believe 
that the idea of a professional school in this department, as a 
thing of the future, entered his mind. Within eleven years 
after he came to Xew Haven the first steps were taken towards 
the founding of a medical school, the organization of which was 
authorized by the Legislature of the State in 1810, and was 
completed by tlie ai)pointment of four able professors in 1813. 
I may add that, when in 1806 the earliest movements were 
made towards the founding of a theological seminary at Ando- 
ver, Mass. — the first one established in the country — he was 
consulted by those most promineutlj^ engaged in the enterprise ; 
and, according to one who was acquainted with the facts of the 
case, he did much for the accomplishment of the end. Dr. N. 
W. Taylor, the person to whom I refer, saj^s that " he entered 
into the subject with the deepest interest, unfolding his ^iews 
of the advantages and necessity of such an institution, and 
that he seemed to exult as an eye witness of its great and 
blessed results." His participation and interest in that great 
work are, also, proved by the fact that, when the seminary was 
formally opened, he was the person invited to preach the inau- 
gurating discourse. But, to our present i^urpose it is more 
important, and at the same time a thing still more worthy of 
notice, that, when these gentlemen came from Massachusetts to 
get his advice and counsel respecting the institution there, he 
told them that he " had long had it in his heart to extend the 
means of a thorough preparation for the ministry in the college 
at ]S"ew Haven," and that " should the time come when this 
should be done, and the graduates of Yale should be induced 
to pursue theological study at a seminary connected with the 
college, it must not be considered as interfering with their 
undertaking." Indeed, at an early dsbj, he induced his eldest 



G3 

son, who bore bis own name, to invest a certain sum of money 
wbicb sbould, in tbe course of a few years, pro\ide for tbe 
estabbsbment of a professorship in theology. There can be no 
doubt, also, that he fixed in his own mind upon Dr. Taylor as 
the one who should occupy this position, and that thus, in 
these two essential points, he laid the plan for the beginning of 
a theological seminary in New Haven. Moreover, he had 
classes, from time to time, of graduate students, whom he per- 
suaded to remain at the college and prepare themselves for the 
ministry under his charge— in this way, as it were, starting a 
school, as centered in himself, before it was possible that it 
should be formally organized. The theological department of 
the college was not founded, indeed, until five years after his 
death, but he was as truly its originator as if he had lived to 
see and rejoice in its progress. 

All this that has been said shows how widely his mind opened 
itself to consider everything in every department which the 
coming times would demand, or which could make the college 
greater or more truly a blessing than it had ever been before. 
He grasped the idea of a University— a place of universal learn- 
ing, and a place where the young men of the country should be 
more perfectly educated for the learned professions, as well as 
in the general studies which might be preparatory to the life of 
any cultivated gentleman. Not only did he grasp this idea, but 
he carefully formed his plans, and stimulated others to interest 
in them, and put forth most earnest efforts and seized upon 
every opportunity for their accomplishment, and rested-not for 
a moment till the end was attained. It is remarkable, also, 
that, with a wonderful insight into the human mind and charac- 
ter, and with an equally wonderful foresight of the future, he 
selected for the new chairs of instruction which were created, 
a body of extraordinary young men— graduates of the early 
years of his own presidency— who should assist him in his great 
work. They were men, in greater or less degree, of a spirit kin- 
dred to his. He inspired them constantly with his own enthu- 
siasm, filled their minds with undoubting confidence in and ad- 
miration for himself, opened to them the vision of great things 
which floated before his imagination, encouraged them in their 
every undertaking, and was a tower of strength to them in 
every hour of their disappointment. They all knew that they 
could go to him and find hearty sympathy ; that his wide cii^cle 



04 

of interest aud kuowledge included the fields in wbicli they 
were each of them employed ; and that even if, in their own 
special line, they passed beyond the boundaries of what he 
knew, his heart was large enough to believe in the value of that 
which they were reaching after, and generous enough to aid 
them as if he were wholly within their own sphere of working. 
What estimate can be ])laced upon the power and helpfulness 
of such a man in a great institution of learning in any period 
of its history ? To his colleagues his society and counsel are an 
incalculable blessing. To the college his influence is an element 
of the highest life. Surely Dr. D wight was all that has here 
been represented, if we may believe the evidence of what 
he accomplished — and not simply this, but also the unvarying 
testimony of these younger associates, given long after his 
death and in their own old age. 

The material lorosperity of the college was also an object of 
his special thought. He appreciated the necessity of far larger 
means, provided the results desired were to be reached. By 
private solicitation and public effort he sought to secnre such 
means, aud on two or three occasions he made powerful appeals 
to the legislature of the State — a body which has, in almost all 
cases, whether in his day or in ours, resisted the most eloquent 
presentations of the cause of our higher institutions of learning. 
Perchance it has been better for the college that it has received 
so little from the State. Certainly it is so, if the effect of public 
gifts would have been to bring it in any measure under legisla- 
tive control. But, with little or no assistance from the State 
authorities, the funds of the college were becoming gradually 
larger, and the buildings of the institution were repaired and 
increased in number. Within six years after the beginning of 
Dr. Dwight's presidency the number of students had nearly 
doubled. In consequence of this great increase a new building 
for their accommodation was erected, and also another building 
which afforded new and better recitation rooms, as well as a 
place for the chemical laboratory aud the library. The library 
itself was also enlarged, and considerable sums were expended 
for the chemical and i^hilosophical apparatus. As an illustra- 
tion of his readiness to aid in everything that should benefit the 
institution. Professor Sillimau records in his diary that, when in 
1810 the valuable cabinet of minerals belonging to the late Col. 
Gibbs was offered to the college to be kept there, if the authori- 



05 

ties would provide suitable rooms for it, he " lost no time in 
laying" the subject before President Dwight," and, he adds, that 
he " warmly espoused the design, and, without hesitation, 
acceded to the plan which was suggested." For the effecting 
of these objects and the enlargement of the means of instruc- 
tion he contributed liberally himself, for it is said that, though 
entitled by vote of the corporation as well as by the justice of 
the case to the salaries of the two offices which he held, namely, 
that of President and that of Professor of Divinity, he regularly 
relinquished from one half to two thirds of what he would pro- 
perly have received from the professorship. " The amount thus 
relinquished was more than ten thousand dollars." He also de- 
clined any increase of his salary as president, though it was 
offered him during the last thirteen years of his official life. 
That he was a devoted and generous friend of the college, as 
well as a wise worker for its well being, is manifested by this 
fact, for he was a man of only moderate means, and at his death 
he left his family with a limited i)roperty. It has been one of 
the fortunate things in the history of Yale College, that it has 
had within the circle of its faculty more than one who, like this 
eminent man, has contributed liberally of his own means for its 
success and growth. Indeed, the whole-souled consecration of 
its officers to its interests of every kind has been one of the 
greatest sources of its prosperity in the past, and it is most 
earnestly to be desired that the same spirit may characterize 
those who shall guide its course in the generations to come. 

In regard to discipline in the college. President Dwight seems, 
from the very beginning of his official life, to have determined 
upon a thorough and radical change from the system known in 
earlier years. With an abounding common sense and an appre- 
ciation of the altered circumstances of the times, he removed 
from the college laws the old regulations respecting fines for 
absence from appointed exercises, and those j)rovisions which 
placed the lower classes in a kind of subjection to the higher. 
In place of these disciplinary methods he introduced others 
which were more adapted to the government of a body of young 
men in a course of education. Especially he relied, so far as 
his own relations to the students were concerned, upon his per- 
sonal power and influence. " I^o jjerson," says the late Profes- 
sor Kingsley, " ever more thoroughly understood the feelings 
and passions of young men, and their modes of thinking and 

5 



66 

reasoning, or knew better what motives to urge when it was 
necessary to check their waywardness or to incite them to land- 
able efltbrts. Whether he had occasion to speak to the students 
at large, or to portions of them, he always succeeded in produ- 
cing a conviction of the interest he took in their welfare, in 
which there was no affectation ; and he addressed, at the same 
time, their understandings and their consciences with such ap- 
propriateness and force thah few continued in opposition.'" 
Having faith in paternal rather than mere governmental dis- 
cipline, he treated the students as gentlemen and as sons. Such 
a iiaternal relation was more easily sustained at that period, of 
course, than it could be now, for the numbers in the college 
were so much smaller. The successive senior classes, also, were 
more exclusively brought under his own care and teaching than 
they are at present. He was, thus, more like Dr. Arnold 
among his scholars at Eugby than the chief officer of a great 
university, in our day, is able to be. The power of his person- 
ality, therefore, on each individual could be greater. But this 
personal power — whether then or now— is, after all, the great 
thing, both in discipline and in education ; and he had the keen 
mental perception to recognize this fact, as well as the rare fac- 
ulty of using his personal influence with success upon all classes 
of students. The consequence was that he attached them to him- 
self and made them his affectionate friends. " The anxiety of 
President Dwight for the good of his pupils," says Professor Sil- 
limau, "did not cease with the cessation of his authority over 
them. He was often known to converse, in the kindest and 
most paternal manner, with those who, having received the 
honors of the institution, were about to go out into the world, 
but concerning whose welfare he was still solicitous ; and such 
advice, unattended by any academic sanctions, was found in 
various instances precious to him who was the subject of it." 
" The great secret of his government was this," says the same 
gentleman, " it was a sway of influence rather than of coercion." 
He was a disciplinarian, accordingly, of the highest order, for 
he exercised discipline without the show of it, and moved the 
hearts of his pupils like a loving father. 

As an instructor, he had that most valuable gift which we 
may call magnetic power. He not only imparted knowledge to 
the students, and presented truth with great clearness before 
their minds, but he both stimulated them to activity in the 



07 

independeut searcli after truth for themselves aud inspired 
them with enthusiasm iu their work. The young man who 
goes forth from his college life having his mind crowded with 
the facts of science or of history, or with the grammar or 
vocabulary of the ancient languages stored iu his memory — 
however much he may know — gives no such grand promise of 
the future as he who has learned to love knowledge for its own 
sake, and has had awakened within him an unquenchable desire 
to attain it. The arousing of the pupil's mind into a self-pro- 
pelling activity is the most desirable end in education. It is, 
also, the one most diflBcult to be secured; and it is a grievous 
thing, which we are obliged to confess, that the teachers who 
know the secret of its accomplishment are only here aud there to 
be found. But if there is any })oint on which all the graduates 
of Yale College under Dr. Dwight's administration are harmo- 
nious in their declarations, it is that he was such a stimulating 
teacher. As the late Dr. Gardiner Spri Qg said to the alumni 
of the college iu New York, in 1817, "There is one spot to 
which you will never turn your thoughts without the recollec- 
tion of his full-orbed excellence, namely, the recitation room 
of the Senior Class. I am persuaded that I shall ever account 
it one of the highest privileges of my life, that my youthful 
allotment was to listen to the instructions of that memorable 
chamber.'" 

From the accounts given of bim by some of the leading men 
who were his pupils, however, it is cleac that he was a lecturer 
rather than a hearer of recitations ; that he aimed in the class 
room rather to impart knowledge to the mind of the student 
than to draw knowledge out of it. It could scarcely have been 
otherwise with a man who had such varied information, and, at 
the same time, so irresistible an impulse to communicate to 
others his own ideas and thoughts. Under the influence of 
such a teacher, those who are incapable of enthusiasm, or who 
are determined to neglect their opportunities aud waste their 
time, may, perhaps, be carried forward less successfully than 
if they were forced to learn according to some dry routine or 
machine-like system. But even if tbis be true, the. number in 
his case who resisted the magnetic intlucnce was very small, 
wljile the gain for those who were borne along by its quicken- 
ing power far more than compensated for the losses of such 
thoughtless and sluggish minds. The young men who were 



68 

inspired by him, as one of tliem lias said, " fouud their sum of 
knowledge daily increased; their moral principles formed and 
strengthened ; from boys they became nieu, and rose to the 
full consciousness of manhood." I cannot forbear to add, from 
the testimony of this same person — Professor Denison Olmsted 
— who came under his instructions when he was at the very 
height of his power, a brief description, which will picture him 
before our minds in a life-like way. 

" Copious and able as were the instructions given by Presi- 
dent Dwight, in connection with the text books," Professor 
Olmsted says : " it was in the ample and profound discussions 
of questions, whether philosophical, political, literary or re- . 
ligious, that his great powers as a teacher were most fully 
brought out. In these, according to the nature of the subject, 
appeared, by turns, the divine, the poet, the statesman, the 
patriot, the philanthropist. He Avould enter with all his soul 
into the discussion, bringing forward in luminous order the most 
convincing arguments, embellishing by rhetorical figures, illus- 
trating by pertinent anecdotes, enlivening by sallies of humor, 
and often warming up into a more glowing strain of eloquence 
than he ever exemplihed in his public discourses. During the 
reading of the debates of the students he often interspersed 
remarks suggested by some casual association, wliich led him 
at a distance from the main point in argument. But it was 
useful information, however discursive he might sometimes 
appear ; and, by this practice, he touched upon so many of the 
exigencies of real life that his pupils have been often heard to 
say that hardly a day of their subse(iueat li^^es i)assed Avithout 
their recalling something said by President Dwight. The 
earnestness with which he engaged in the business of instruc- 
tion, and in arguing questions in which important truths were 
to be established, never abated. It might be the twentieth or 
the thirtieth class of pupils now before him, and he might be 
reiterating the same ground for the thirtieth time, yet his zeal 
knew no satiety." Writing soon after the death of Dr. D wight, 
the same distinguished gentleman said, " Who has ever united 
in a higher degree the dignity that commands respect, the ac- 
curacy that nispires confidence, the ardor that kindles anima- 
tion, the kindness that Avins affection, and has been able at the 
same time to exhibit before his pupils the fruits of long and 
profound research, of an extensive and x)rolitable intercourse 



69 

with tlie world, and of great experience iu the business of in- 
struction f This w^as a judgment pronounced when the writer 
of the words was a young graduate of only four years' standing. 
In 1858, he confirms the same judgment in the following lan- 
guage : " After the lapse of more than forty years, and after 
much opportunity with many eminent instructors, this estimate 
seems to me entirely just, and President D wight is ever present 
to my mind as the Great Model Teacher." Truly the presence 
of such an instructor for twenty-two years in any institution of 
learning — if he does nothing beyond the work of the lecture 
room — is a power for good, which can only be fully measured 
when the results of all the lives, into which his thoughts and 
teachings have entered, shall be Complete. But how much be- 
yond this, as Ave have already seen, was accomplished for Yale 
College by this great and faithful man ! 

Dr. Dwight, however, was not only the President of the Col- 
lege, with the various duties which belong to that position. 
He was also the college preacher. The Professorship of Divin- 
ity, to which the care of the college church, both in preaching 
and the pastoral oflflce, was assigned, had been vacant for two 
years when tbe new president was inaugurated. Several at- 
tempts were made by the Corporation to fill the chair, but with- 
out success, and in the meantime Dr. Dwight supplied the pul- 
pit. At length, in 1805 it was decided to elect him to the pro- 
fessorship, and from that time till his death he discharged all 
its duties. By leaving the parish where he had been settled for 
twelve 3'ears, therefore, he did not cease to be a preacher or to 
have the spiritual oversight of a congregation. On the contrary, 
he entered upon a similar work to that in which he had been 
engaged, only in a field where he had the greatest opportunities 
for usefulness, and where, if successful, his Christian influence 
was destined to be far reacliing. 

The taste and peculiarities of successive generations dilier in 
no respect more widely, perhaps, than they do with reference 
to preaching. The people of to-day, therefore, are unable to 
judge with entire fairness of the sermons which their fathers 
heard, or even of those which they heard themselves iu their 
earlier life. We have a new standard, of which our ancestors 
knew nothing. To the audiences of his own generation Dr. 
Dwight was a most effective and eloquent preacher. He broke 
away from the dr^^ and doctrinal method of the New England 



70 

miuisters who i)recedecl liiui, aud liis sermous mark au era iu 
that progress of preacliing which has resulted in the liighest 
aud best style of our owu generation. But we may say more 
than this. The sermons which were published after his death, 
and which present his system of theology, have been regardet" 
ever since their publication, as among the ablest productions of 
the American pulpit. For clearness and felicity of statement, 
and for force and candor in dealing with objections, they are 
unsurpassed by any theological writings. In Euglpud, as well 
as iu our own land, they have exerted a very wide influence, 
and, in the former country especiary? they have been to so 
great a degree an element in theological education that almost 
all prominent English clergymen — at least those not of the 
Established Church — who come to our shores, bear testimony to 
what they themselves have owed to their author, " There may 
have been other preachers,"' says that eminent clergyman, of 
whose death we have just heard — the Eev. Dr. William B. 
Sprague — " there may bave been other preachers who could 
occasionally rise to a loftier height and produce a more over- 
wbelmiug impression than he 5 but, if there have been those, at 
least in our own country, whose ministrations were uniformly 
marked with more vigor and dignity aud attraction than his, 
we know not where to look for tbem." 

As a theologian he was not an originator or discoverer, like 
his ancestor the elder Edwards, or his pupil Dr. Taylor, but I 
suppose that no man in the history of New England, unless it 
be Edwards himself, has afl'ected theological thinking in a 
greater degree, or done more to give theology its true place as 
the queen of the sciences. Dr. D wight, however, as a theolo- 
gian and as a preacher, aimed at practical results. At the 
beginning of his official life as president he labored most 
earnestly and successfully for the overthrow of the iulidel ideas 
of the time, which had seized upon the minds of the ablest 
3"oung men, and had so pervaded the college that the church 
had scarcely any members. His arguments and dlscoiu'ses on 
this subject were remembered long after the conflict was ended 
aud the victory secured. But In the quieter period that fol- 
lowed, even to the close of his career, he i)reached, with all the 
energy of his soul, for the conversion and the religious ui)bulld- 
iug of the students. Kevlvals of much i)0wer attended his 
efforts. The lives of many of his pupils bore witness, in their 



71 

own Christian development, to the faithfnhiess of his personal 
solicitations and his persnasive appeals. Believing- in the infi- 
nite valne to the soul of its union with God by a living- faith, 
he thought that education attained its highest end only when it 
brought the knowledge of spiritual and eternal realities. He 
consecrated, therefore, all his working and all his life to the 
securing- of such an education for the hundreds of young men 
who came within the sphere of his influence. " It was imi^ossi- 
ble not to love him," says the late Nathaniel Chauncey, Esq., 
of Philadelphia, for " his prayers and exertions and talents 
were constantly employed for the good of his charge; his 
praise, delightful as the approbation of conscience, and reproof, 
piercing- to the soul, both alike evidently came from the feelings 
of a father, who taught not only how to live but how to die." 

I may add that Dr. Dwight's influence did not end with 
what he did or what he taught. It belonged to his very nature^ 
It had its foundation in himself. Every student who came to 
Yale College saw in its President a grand specimen of man. 
He was not greater than some other men, of that generation or 
of this, in particular lines ; probably he was not the equal of 
some. But, if we may give any credence to what the fathers 
have told us, he was one of the most consincnous of men in 
modern times for the roundness and fullness, the variety and 
symmetry of his powers. 

He was an ardent lover of music ; a poet of some merit, to 
say the least, considering the age ; a teacher of extraordinary 
ability ; one of the first preachers of his generation. He was 
acquainted with almost every subject, had read extensively in 
the literature of the English language, was a delighted observer 
of nature, loved flowers and all beautiful things with the ardor 
of a child, and opened his mind to be taught in everything use- 
ful, from the highest to the lowest sphere. He had practical 
wisdom to devise plans for needed improvements, and practical 
energy to carry out these plans to their result, to a degree 
which few have ever smpassed. He had a hoi^eful outlook 
upon the future and believed that the golden age was yet to 
come, and he was ready for every necessary effort and sacrifice 
to make that future possible, as well as to hasten its coming. 
He was a patriot, with the most ardent love for his country; 
believing in liberty and abhorring the system which brought 
human beings into bondage and deprived them of all their dear- 



72 

est rights. He was a Christian believer, of the humblest and 
most earnest kind ', full of love for his fellow men, and ever 
ready to give them sympathy and help on their way to heaven. 
With reasoning powers of a high order, with a cultivated 
imagination, with a conversational ability admired by all the 
circle of his acquaintance, and by strangers even who met him 
for the first time, with the manners of a gentleman, and, in a 
wonderful degree, the bearing and person of a noble man — his 
form e'"ect and fall of dignitj', his face beaming with intelli- 
gence and virtue, and his whole appearance impressive and 
commanding — with all this so conspicuous to every beholder, 
he must have filled the college with the refinement of his pres- 
ence ; he must have been, as they saw him from day to day, an 
example to all his pupils, which they could not but desire to 
imitate. I would that I might have seen him as he moved 
about among the x>eople of Greenfield, or as he walked the 
quiet streets of Kew Haven ; a generous, earnest, thoughtful, 
benignant Christian preacher and teacher. 

It was such a man that this church, after enjoying his minis- 
try for twelve years, gave up, at the Divine summons, for the 
college of this Commonwealth. More than half a century has 
passed since his earthly career came to its end, and more than 
three quarters of a century since he closed his labors here. 
The men whom he knew in Greenfield have all entered into the 
experiences of the other life, like himself. Even of those who 
knew him as his pupils at New Haven but a small number still 
survive. His wife, who came to this place with him in her 
early life, lived on alone in her widowhood, universally revered 
and beloved, till she was ninety-one, but it is now thirty years 
since her departure from this world ; and their children, after 
long and useful and honored lives, have all finished their work, 
and are now reunited with him and with her in heaven. So the 
grandchildren come forward to the places of the grandfathers, 
and the generations move on in their ceaseless course. But 
like the everlasting hills, the memory of the past still abides, 
and we who meet on this commemorative day bless God for the 
great men of other times. 

There is a beautiful hymn, which was written soon after the 
close of his ministry here, by the pastor and teacher in whose 
honor I have spoken — a hymn sung by sweet voices all over the 
English-speaking world, and destined to be sung more and more 



73 

■widely to the latest time — a true song of the Church, which will 
give expression to the seiitiiiieut of thousands of the great 
brotherhood of believers, who will never know of the life of its 
author. As I hold it in my hand at this moment, in the old 
manuscript where he wrote its words, and as the passing of 
these hundred and fifty years in this village church brings to 
our thoughts the faithfulness of God in the past and His prom- 
ises for the future, it seems almost as if he stood upon this sacred 
spot once more, and, with all the ardor of his Christian confi- 
dence and hope, said, as he did so long ago : 

I love thy kingdom, Lord, 

The house of thine abode, 
The church our blest Redeemer saved 

With his own precious blood. 

I love thy church, God ! 

Her walls before thee stand, 
Dear as the apple of thine eye, 

And graven on thy hand. 

If e'er to bless thy sons 

My voice or hands deny, 
These hands let useful skill forsake 

This voice in silence die. 

If e'er my heart forget 

Her welfare or her woe. 
Let every joy this heart forsake 

And every grief o'erflow. 

For her my tears shall fall. 

For her my prayers ascend, 
To her my cares and toils be given 

'Till toils and cares shall end. 

Beyond my highest joy 

I prize her heavenly ways. 
Her sweet communion, solemn vows. 

Her hymns of love and praise. 

Jesus, thou Prince divine, 

Our Saviour and our King, 
Thy hand from every snare and foe 

Shall great deliverance bring. 

Sure as thy truth shall last, 

To Zion shall be given 
The brightest glories earth can yield, 

And brighter bliss of heaven. 

6 



1 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS i 

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